Ravine / Naturalized Parkcluster ·Underperforming / Leftover Spaces (ravine-leaning)Thorncliffe Park (55)confidence moderatereal Toronto data

East York Hydro Green Space

Ravine / Naturalized Park, below average overall (score 29, rank ~24th percentile). Strongest: edge activation; weakest: connectivity.

Aerial — City of Toronto orthophoto, ~8 cm/px source · cached 5/9/2026

East York Hydro Green Space scores 28.7 / 100. Strongest dimensions: enclosure / eyes on park and natural comfort. Weakest: amenity diversity (0). Border-vacuum risk is low. This score is a transparent reading of Jane Jacobs-style vitality factors — not a definitive judgment.

Best for:escape into nature

Area · 4.29 ha

Vitality Score

29/100

Weighted across six dimensions · confidence 55%

Data Confidence

28.7 / 100

Citywide

24th

of all 3,273 parks

Among Ravine / Naturalized Park

25th

same primary typology

Expected for similar parks

median in medium Ravine / Naturalized Park ravine (n=213)

Performance gap

-7

raw − expected · context confidence high

modest underperformer

Scores are not bell-curved. Percentiles and expected scores provide context without changing the underlying model.

Explain this score

Where did the 29 come from? Each weighted contribution against a neutral 50 baseline. Green = pushed up; red = pulled down.

Download JSON

What pushed this score up or down vs a neutral 50weight × score

Amenity Diversity0 · p28

-10.0

Edge Activation17 · p77

-8.2

Connectivity19 · p8

-6.3

Border Vacuum Risk0 (risk)

+5.0

Natural Comfort33 · p16

-2.6

Enclosure / Eyes on Park58 · p25

+0.8

Sum of contributions = the headline score. A negative bar means that dimension dragged the park below the city-wide neutral baseline.

Why this park works

East York Hydro Green Space works because its edge activation score (17) is above average.

What limits this park

East York Hydro Green Space is held back by connectivity (19, bottom quartile).

Most distinctive characteristic

Most distinctive feature: exceptionally low connectivity (19, bottom quartile).

Jacobs reading

East York Hydro Green Space sits between an urban social park and an ecological retreat — moderately useful for both, exceptionally suited to neither.

Performance in context

Reads as a modest underperformer relative to comparable parks (gap -7; cohort: medium Ravine / Naturalized Park ravine).

Typology classification

confidence 75%

Ravine / Naturalized Parkalso reads as Waterfront Park

Classified as Ravine / Naturalized Park: 97% ravine overlap, 0% canopy. Secondary read: Waterfront Park (nearest waterbody within ~0 m).

Edge Activation

25% weightpartial 60%

17.3 / 100

Within 100 m of the park edge: 3 active uses (transit_stop) and 2 dead/hostile uses (parking_lot). Active edges keep "eyes on the park" through the day; parking lots, blank institutional walls, rail and highway frontages drain street life.

Source: OSM POIs (amenity/shop) + Toronto Building Footprints + land use

Connectivity

20% weightpartial 65%

18.5 / 100

Connectivity blends paths, intersections, transit, entrances, and edge density. This park has 0 mapped paths/walkways and 0 sidewalk segments within 50 m; 1 street intersections within 100 m; 18 transit stops within a 400 m walk; 0 estimated access points across ~979 m of perimeter. low edge density — significant superblock penalty applied. Source coverage: centreline, transit_osm.

Streets within 25 m0

Intersections within 100 m1

Paths/walkways (50 m)0

Sidewalk segments (50 m)0

Transit stops (400 m)18

Estimated entrances0

Edge connections / 100 m perimeter0.00

Park perimeter979 m

Source: Toronto Centreline V2 + Pedestrian Network + OSM transit stops

Amenity Diversity

20% weightinferred 30%

0.0 / 100

No amenities recorded — score is 0 until inventory is loaded.

Source: Toronto Parks & Recreation Facilities + OSM amenity tags

Natural Comfort

15% weightpartial 45%

32.8 / 100

Natural-comfort components for this park: 0.0% estimated tree canopy; 97.3% inside the ravine system; 2.2% water surface. Reading: ravine-cooled. Source coverage: ravine, waterbodies. Impervious surface is approximated (Toronto's authoritative layer ships only as a raster GeoTIFF).

Canopy coverage0.0%

Canopy area0.00 ha

Inside ravine system97.3%

Water surface inside park2.2%

Nearest water (if outside park)0 m (inside)

Estimated green97.8%

City-mapped trees inside polygon0

Tree density0.0 / ha

Cover diversity (Shannon, 0–100)12.3

Sample points used224

Source: Toronto Treed Area + Ravine + Waterbodies + Street Tree Inventory

Enclosure / Eyes on Park

10% weightmeasured 80%

57.5 / 100

12 buildings within 25 m of the park edge (7 mid-rise, 5 low-rise, 0 tower); avg edge height 12.1 m (~4 floors); 1.2 buildings per 100 m of 979 m perimeter — thin frontage — significant blank-edge share; edges are at a Jacobs-scale walkable mid-rise (3–7 floors); no towers immediately adjacent. "Eyes on the park" come strongest from the 7 mid-rise edge buildings.

Buildings within 25 m12

Buildings within 50 m12

Avg edge height12.1 m (~4 floors)

Tallest edge building19.7 m

Mid-rise (3–7 floors)7

Low-rise (< 3 floors)5

Towers (≥ 13 floors)0

Frontage density1.23 per 100 m perimeter

Mid-rise share of edge58%

Tower share of edge0%

Blank-edge share (proxy)59%

Park perimeter979 m

Source: Toronto 3D Massing (building footprints + heights)

Border Vacuum Risk

10% weightpartial 60%

0.0 risk

Park edges face the city — no significant border vacuum detected.

Source: Toronto Street Centreline (highways) + rail layer + OSM landuse + building footprints

Equity Context

contextinferred 15%

50.0 / 100

Equity Context requires inputs not yet loaded for this park (Toronto Neighbourhood Profiles). Score is held at a neutral 50 with low confidence — read with caution.

Source: Toronto Neighbourhood Profiles

Amenities (0)

No amenities recorded for this park.

Nearby active-edge features (20)

parking lot55 m
parking lot56 m
transit stop83 m
transit stop — Thorncliffe Park Dr at Pat Moore Dr87 m
transit stop90 m
parking lot100 m
transit stop — Thorncliffe Park Dr at Pat Moore Dr107 m
parking lot135 m
parking lot136 m
parking lot141 m
retail150 m
parking lot156 m
parking lot164 m
restaurant — Mandiafandi170 m
parking lot172 m
retail — Cannabis Camel181 m
retail — Toronto Optical & Vision187 m
parking lot188 m
retail — First Choice Haircutters195 m
retail — Capital Sweet & Samosa199 m

Park profile

Five-axis radar across the structural dimensions.

Citywide percentile ranks

Across all Toronto parks in the dataset.

Overall vitality
24th
Edge activation
77th
Connectivity
8th
Amenity diversity
28th
Natural comfort
16th
Enclosure
25th

Most similar parks

Closest in metric space across the five structural dimensions.

Etobicoke Hydro Green SpaceParkette23
Warden ParkNeighbourhood Park28
Scarborough Hydro Green SpaceOther27
Humber River WatercourseWaterfront Park33
Rouge River WatercourseRavine / Naturalized Park31

Most opposite parks

Furthest in metric space — useful for recognising what kind of park this isn’t.

Kew GardensNeighbourhood Park71
Leslie Grove ParkParkette68
High ParkRavine / Naturalized Park47
Sir Winston Churchill ParkRavine / Naturalized Park69
Trinity Bellwoods ParkNeighbourhood Park63

Human activity signals — not available

No activity signals have landed for this park yet. The model has scored its physical form but it can’t yet say how often it’s programmed, photographed, or walked through. See /data-ethics for what we will and will not collect.

Does this score feel accurate?

Your read of East York Hydro Green Spacematters. We’re testing whether the model lines up with how people actually use the park. Submissions are stored locally; no account needed.

Tell us how this park feels

We measure structure (canopy, edges, connectivity). You measure feeling. Both matter — and disagreement is itself useful civic data.

What would improve this park?

Generated from the weakest measured dimensions — a starting point, not a prescription.

Activate the edges: encourage cafés, retail or community uses on the streets that face the park; replace blank or parking-lot edges where possible.
Add or open more entrances and improve sidewalk continuity around the park. More permeability means more spontaneous use.
Diversify what people can do in the park — playground, washroom, water, shade, performance, sport, garden — even small additions raise this score.
Increase canopy and reduce paved area. Shade and water features extend usable hours and seasons.

Data sources

City of Toronto Open Data — Parks (Green Space)
Polygon boundaries, official names, types.
Parks & Recreation Facilities
Inventory of in-park amenities (washrooms, fields, rinks…).
Toronto Pedestrian Network
Sidewalk segments around and through parks; estimated park entrances.
Toronto Centreline V2
Street segments + intersection nodes near park edges; trails and walkways.
Toronto 3D Massing
Building footprints + heights for edge-building counts, frontage density, and tower-in-the-park risk.
Toronto Treed Area
Tree canopy share inside park polygons via stratified-grid sampling.
Toronto Waterbodies & Rivers
Water surface inside parks + nearest-water distance for cooling.
Ravine & Natural Feature Protection
Ravine overlap as a cooling / natural-comfort signal.
Toronto Street Tree Inventory
Tree count + density inside park polygons.
Neighbourhood Profiles
(Pending) Equity context proxy.
OpenStreetMap (Overpass API)
Cafés, restaurants, retail, transit stops, parking, highways, rail.