The creation of a new downtown community association, the first from the city's core in a decade, is a sign of the growth of a healthy city as it emerges from the pandemic, says the executive director of the Federation of Calgary Communities.

You can always go downtown. At least that's what the song says.

Much has been written about the current woes of Calgary's Downtown Commercial Core. Office vacancies are approaching 30 per cent and many businesses and commuters are conspicuous in their absence from the area.

However, there are a significant number of Calgarians who have no intention of going anywhere, even after the workaday crowd goes home.

When Mike Bucci completes his Radius condo project in early 2019, it's unlikely to be the end of his company's love affair with The Bridges — a redevelopment in the north inner-city neighbourhood of Bridgeland.

In fact, the vice-president development for Bucci Developments says when the City puts the remaining three parcels of land in the last phase of The Bridges on the market he will be first in line to buy.

"We're calling the City every day telling them we're interested," he said. "We love Bridgeland and it's a pretty special site."

New communities are opening a world of opportunity for homebuyers in Calgary's blossoming northeast.

Take for example the community of Redstone, a master-planned development by Qualico Communities gracing 360 acres (146 hectares) north of 128th Avenue N.E.

On March 4, Brookfield Residential officially launched the community of Livingston, a new community gathering attention for its innovative, attractive home designs, and a fresh, exciting take on community.

"We're so excited that it's finally here," said Jessie Seymour, senior manager of strategic marketing at Brookfield Residential.

A decade in the making, Livingston covers 500 hectares straddling Centre Street north of Stoney Trail. When fully developed, the community will be home to an expected 30,000 Calgarians. A major activity centre, acting as a central hub, will include an estimated one million square feet of institutional and retail space.

On the east side of the Elbow River bordering Mission sits a hidden gem – the community of Erlton. Here, pockets of vintage heritage homes along with architecturally pleasing townhomes and condo developments are tucked away along the east banks of the Elbow River, mere steps from the trendy streets of Mission.

"Erlton is one of Calgary's best kept secrets. I love living here. It's just such a small, connected community," said Viccy Grace, an area resident and president of the Erlton Community Association. She and her husband purchased and refurbished a century-old home on the hill in Erlton.

The ambitious master plan and vision for East Village, which was years in the making, is bearing fruit these days with an unprecedented level of construction taking place and more to come.

Two key blocks in the neighbourhood are the next big projects for Calgary Municipal Land Corporation, which is spearheading development in East Village.

Susan Veres, senior vice-president of strategy and business development for CMLC, says COPEZ has plans for the East Village Courtyard, which is before the City right now for permits, and it will include two rental towers of about 600 units, a mid-rise market product with about 100 units, and an office building.

It's no secret that affordable housing is hard to come by in Calgary.

Plenty of studies, including several by the municipal government, have pointed to this problem in the past. Yet none have been able to provide a comprehensive picture – until now.

Earlier this month, the City of Calgary released an unprecedented report called Housing in Calgary: An Inventory of Housing Supply, 2015/2016.

Good community design creates good feelings. It's those good feelings – a sense of connectedness, camaraderie with neighbours, a sense of belonging, and pride of ownership – that drives the must-live-here desire. And that's just what the developers of Harmony, a new sustainable, interactive lake and golf community located in the heart of Springbank, want to evoke.

"With Harmony, what we wanted to do was turn back the hands of time and focus on what community really is," said Birol Fisekci, of Harmony Developments Inc.

Fisekci is also the president and CEO of Bordeaux Properties the co-developer of the project, along with Qualico Communities.

Ascend to the summit of Nose Hill Park on a clear, sunny day and you'll have a spectacular vantage from which to survey the city. It's just one of the many parks in the city's northwest that Calgarians know and love.

As a quadrant, northwest Calgary is an area roughly bordered by Deerfoot Trail to the east, the Bow River to the south, Calgary's city limits to the west, and Stoney Trail to the north.

The northwest is diverse, in both demographics and geography. Several new communities now exist farther north and west of Stoney Trail and one of city's oldest neighbourhoods, Bowness, dates back to the turn of the 20th century.