During a 152-game career with the Calgary Stampeders, Jon Cornish racked up some impressive accomplishments, including 7,401 rushing yards, a pair of Grey Cup rings, three Most Outstanding Canadian baubles in a row and a touchstone Most Outstanding Player nod.

He also reached "the house" – football jargon for the opposition's end zone – on 46 occasions, but he didn't own his own house until 2013.

The whistle stops, Randy Chevrier will readily acknowledge, had become something of a blur.

Big places, small places, exotic places and so-so places. Across the U.S., back home to Canada and even to Europe. From Jacksonville, Fla.; to Cincinnati, Ohio; to Dallas, Texas; to Barcelona, Spain; to Edmonton; and then to New York.

The year is 1960. Calgary's population sits at 234,428. Completion of the Trans-Canada Highway is still two years away. A new $1-million terminal at McCall Field welcomes airline passengers, with the first non-stop, transatlantic flight from Calgary to Amsterdam still a year away. The first two buildings on the new University of Calgary campus open and the newly minted community of Brentwood sits on the very edge of the city.

How times have changed.

Inner city is a term we use and misuse in equal measures, and as Calgary grows and the inner city's perceived boundaries seem to expand, understanding this term may be more relevant than we realize.

Leaders in middle-ring suburbs grapple with current challenges, while looking to the future

Calgary is a city that is continuing to grow and expand, with new suburbs and surrounding areas showing marked growth this year, yielding new infrastructure and amenities for residents. However, while Calgary's newer communities expand, older communities are experiencing unique challenges.

Residents of Calgary's dynamic campus communities benefit from youthful energy and added amenities

Bob Benson fondly recalls many a Bermuda Shorts Day – the University of Calgary's annual end-of-academic-year celebration – at the Benson home in the northwest community of Varsity.

"We'd host a Bermuda Shorts Day breakfast with ham and pancakes. Kids would congregate at our place at 8:30 a.m. or 9 a.m. and then head over to the university," said Benson, adding he and his wife moved to Varsity in 1988 with the hope that the community's proximity to the university would make it easier for his four children to attend. Apparently, it worked – three of Benson's children studied there.

Varsity is one of several Calgary communities that borders a post-secondary institution. That proximity comes with all the pros, and the occasional con, of living near a large body of students.

Calgary's urban parks offer nearby residents a slice of the great outdoors in the heart of the city

At the beginning of July last year, John and Ildi Arlette took their first-ever walk through Confederation Park.

By the end of that month, they had bought a home in Mount Pleasant sitting near the crescent-shaped green space that stretches across 162 hectares – including eight hectares of wetlands – in northwest Calgary.

"We were on a date night and someone had told me about Confederation Park," said John Arlette. "Ildi is from Ontario and I realized I hadn't shown her much of Calgary – I hadn't even been to the park myself."

After that visit, the Arlettes sold their home in Signal Hill, becoming both inner-city – and park-side living – devotees.

Established Calgary communities with a little something for everyone.

Built in the early 1960s, the communities of Varsity and Brentwood offer up established city living with easy traffic access and amenities for everyone ranging from university students, to young families to empty nesters.