Neighbourhood Parkcluster ·Active-edged · exposed parksIslington-City Centre West (14)confidence moderatereal Toronto data

Etobicoke Hydro Green Space

Neighbourhood Park, middle of the pack overall (score 33, rank ~44th percentile). Strongest: edge activation; weakest: natural comfort.

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

Etobicoke Hydro Green Space scores 32.8 / 100. Strongest dimensions: enclosure / eyes on park and connectivity. Weakest: amenity diversity (0). Border-vacuum risk is elevated (48). This score is a transparent reading of Jane Jacobs-style vitality factors — not a definitive judgment.

Best for:daily urban life

Area · 2.33 ha

Vitality Score

33/100

Weighted across six dimensions · confidence 63%

Data Confidence

32.8 / 100

Citywide

44th

of all 3,273 parks

Among Neighbourhood Park

29th

same primary typology

Expected for similar parks

median in medium Neighbourhood Park (n=363)

Performance gap

-5

raw − expected · context confidence high

typical

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

Explain this score

Where did the 33 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 · p26

-10.0

Edge Activation19 · p78

-7.8

Natural Comfort34 · p19

-2.4

Enclosure / Eyes on Park64 · p54

+1.4

Connectivity56 · p67

+1.3

Border Vacuum Risk48 (risk)

+0.2

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

Etobicoke Hydro Green Space works because its edge activation score (19) is above average and its connectivity (56) is also above-average.

What limits this park

Etobicoke Hydro Green Space is held back by natural comfort (34, bottom quartile)— only 1% canopy means little summer shade; border-vacuum risk is also elevated (48).

Most distinctive characteristic

Most distinctive feature: exceptionally low natural comfort (34, bottom quartile).

Jacobs reading

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

Tradeoffs

The park is enclosed by buildings (64) but the surrounding streets are quiet (edge activation 19) — frame without animation.

Typology classification

confidence 70%

Neighbourhood Park

Classified as Neighbourhood Park: 2.3 ha, framed by 2 mid-rise vs 0 towers

Edge Activation

25% weightpartial 60%

19.0 / 100

Within 100 m of the park edge: 18 active uses (transit_stop, retail, restaurant) and 7 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% weightmeasured 85%

56.4 / 100

Connectivity blends paths, intersections, transit, entrances, and edge density. This park has 0 mapped paths/walkways and 13 sidewalk segments within 50 m; 11 street intersections within 100 m; 16 transit stops within a 400 m walk; 0 estimated access points across ~668 m of perimeter. edge density is healthy — no superblock penalty. Source coverage: centreline, pedestrian_network, transit_osm.

Streets within 25 m9

Intersections within 100 m11

Paths/walkways (50 m)0

Sidewalk segments (50 m)13

Transit stops (400 m)16

Estimated entrances0

Edge connections / 100 m perimeter1.35

Park perimeter668 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% weightmeasured 75%

34.3 / 100

Natural-comfort components for this park: 1.2% estimated tree canopy; nearest waterbody ~1008 m. Reading: exposed. Source coverage: treed_area, waterbodies. Impervious surface is approximated (Toronto's authoritative layer ships only as a raster GeoTIFF).

Canopy coverage1.2%

Canopy area0.03 ha

Inside ravine system0.0%

Water surface inside park0.0%

Nearest water (if outside park)1,008 m

Estimated green100.0%

City-mapped trees inside polygon0

Tree density0.0 / ha

Cover diversity (Shannon, 0–100)9.6

Sample points used161

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

Enclosure / Eyes on Park

10% weightmeasured 80%

63.9 / 100

78 buildings within 25 m of the park edge (2 mid-rise, 76 low-rise, 0 tower); avg edge height 5.2 m (~2 floors); 11.7 buildings per 100 m of 668 m perimeter — strong frontage density; edges are barely there or single-storey; no towers immediately adjacent. "Eyes on the park" come strongest from the 2 mid-rise edge buildings.

Buildings within 25 m78

Buildings within 50 m78

Avg edge height5.2 m (~2 floors)

Tallest edge building11.7 m

Mid-rise (3–7 floors)2

Low-rise (< 3 floors)76

Towers (≥ 13 floors)0

Frontage density11.68 per 100 m perimeter

Mid-rise share of edge3%

Tower share of edge0%

Blank-edge share (proxy)0%

Park perimeter668 m

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

Border Vacuum Risk

10% weightpartial 60%

48.0 risk

Border-vacuum factors within 50 m of the park: parking_lot, parking_lot, parking_lot, parking_lot. Jacobs warned that highways, rail, parking lots and blank institutional edges act as "vacuums" — they suppress foot traffic and isolate the park from its neighbourhood.

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 (40)

transit stop3 m
retail — Duke's Source for Sports8 m
parking lot14 m
retail — Vatra Cheese & Deli17 m
parking lot21 m
parking lot25 m
retail — Inca Cannabis25 m
parking lot31 m
retail — The Steak Master32 m
retail — Dairy Jug Convenience Store37 m
restaurant — Milano's Pizza42 m
transit stop — Bloor Street at Acorn Drive42 m
transit stop — Bloor Street at Ashbourne Drive45 m
retail — Ashbourne Corner Flowers & Gifts47 m
retail — Reid's Custom Upholstery51 m
parking lot60 m
retail — Psychic Reader60 m
transit stop — Auckland Road at Bloor Street66 m
retail — Stari Grad Food Boutique67 m
retail — Ace Barber Shop77 m
restaurant — Haroo Korean Restaurant82 m
parking lot83 m
retail — First Choice Hair85 m
retail — Bloomie Nails & Spa88 m
parking lot90 m
retail — Chatr101 m
retail — Vincent's Hair Salon102 m
retail — Pet Valu106 m
parking lot121 m
restaurant — Greek Freak125 m
parking lot129 m
retail — Tatarama139 m
restaurant — Kanu Bar & Grill144 m
parking lot149 m
parking lot168 m
retail — Maple Convenience179 m
retail — Raw Beauty Bar185 m
retail — Frenchie’s Doughnuts190 m
parking lot192 m
restaurant — Chinese Food Gallery195 m

Park profile

Five-axis radar across the structural dimensions.

Citywide percentile ranks

Across all Toronto parks in the dataset.

Overall vitality
44th
Edge activation
78th
Connectivity
67th
Amenity diversity
26th
Natural comfort
19th
Enclosure
54th

Most similar parks

Closest in metric space across the five structural dimensions.

East Highland Creek WatercourseRavine / Naturalized Park36
West Highland Creek WatercourseRavine / Naturalized Park38
Scarborough Hydro Green SpaceCorridor / Linear Park35
East Highland Creek WatercourseRavine / Naturalized Park39
Addington GreenbeltWaterfront Park38

Most opposite parks

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

Trca Lands ( 26)Ravine / Naturalized Park27
Toronto Islands - Muggs Island ParkRavine / Naturalized Park25
Rouge ParkRavine / Naturalized Park28
Kew GardensNeighbourhood Park71
Rouge ParkRavine / Naturalized Park26

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 Etobicoke 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.
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.
Mitigate border vacuums (highways, rail, parking) with active programming on the still-permeable edges and treat the hostile edge as a design challenge.

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.