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Geary Avenue Parkette — site photograph
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Corridor / Linear Parkcluster ·Walkable Mid-Rise Neighbourhood Parks (enclosure-leaning)Wychwood (94)confidence moderatereal Toronto data

Geary Avenue Parkette

Corridor / Linear Park, middle of the pack overall (score 32, rank ~38th percentile). Strongest: connectivity; weakest: natural comfort.

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

Geary Avenue Parkette scores 31.5 / 100. Strongest dimensions: enclosure / eyes on park and connectivity. Weakest: edge activation (4). Border-vacuum risk is elevated (100). This score is a transparent reading of Jane Jacobs-style vitality factors — not a definitive judgment.

Best for:walking + cycling routeslinear social use

Area · 1.06 ha

Vitality Score
32/100

Weighted across six dimensions · confidence 72%

Data Confidence
31.5 / 100
Citywide
38th
of all 3,273 parks
Among Corridor / Linear Park
43rd
same primary typology
Expected for similar parks
37
median in medium Corridor / Linear Park (n=76)
Performance gap
-5
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 32 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
Edge Activation4 · p65
-11.5
Amenity Diversity12 · p83
-7.6
Border Vacuum Risk100 (risk)
-5.0
Connectivity66 · p85
+3.2
Enclosure / Eyes on Park74 · p75
+2.4
Natural Comfort50 · p61
+0.0

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

Geary Avenue Parkette works because its connectivity score (66) is above average and its amenity diversity (12) is also top quartile (28 transit stops sit within a 400 m walk; 27 intersections fall within 100 m of the edge).

What limits this park

Geary Avenue Parkette's edges are fronted by border-vacuum land uses (highways, rail, parking, blank institutional) — risk score 100.

Most distinctive characteristic

Most distinctive feature: exceptionally high connectivity (66, top quartile).

Jacobs reading

Geary Avenue Parkette 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 (74) but the surrounding streets are quiet (edge activation 4) — frame without animation.
  • High connectivity coexists with high border-vacuum risk (100) — much of that connectivity is to highways, rail, or parking lots, not to neighbourhoods.

Performance in context

  • Reads as a modest underperformer relative to comparable parks (gap -5; cohort: medium Corridor / Linear Park).

Typology classification

confidence 75%
Corridor / Linear Parkalso reads as Neighbourhood Park

Classified as Corridor / Linear Park: shape elongation 2.3× a circle of equal area. Secondary read: Neighbourhood Park (1.1 ha, framed by 11 mid-rise vs 0 towers).

Edge Activation

25% weightpartial 60%
4.0 / 100

Within 100 m of the park edge: 19 active uses (retail, transit_stop, restaurant, cafe) and 9 dead/hostile uses (rail, 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%
66.0 / 100

Connectivity blends paths, intersections, transit, entrances, and edge density. This park has 1 mapped paths/walkways and 21 sidewalk segments within 50 m; 27 street intersections within 100 m; 28 transit stops within a 400 m walk; 0 estimated access points across ~834 m of perimeter. edge density is healthy — no superblock penalty. Source coverage: centreline, pedestrian_network, transit_osm.

Streets within 25 m17
Intersections within 100 m27
Paths/walkways (50 m)1
Sidewalk segments (50 m)21
Transit stops (400 m)28
Estimated entrances0
Edge connections / 100 m perimeter2.04
Park perimeter834 m

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

Amenity Diversity

20% weightmeasured 75%
11.9 / 100

1 distinct amenity types in the park (playground). Diversity, not raw count, drives the score so a park with many distinct activity types can outrank a larger park that repeats the same use.

Source: Toronto Parks & Recreation Facilities + OSM amenity tags

Natural Comfort

15% weightmeasured 75%
50.2 / 100

Natural-comfort components for this park: 12.3% estimated tree canopy; nearest waterbody ~1228 m; 5 city-mapped trees inside the polygon (4.7/ha). Reading: exposed. Source coverage: treed_area, waterbodies, street_trees. Impervious surface is approximated (Toronto's authoritative layer ships only as a raster GeoTIFF).

Canopy coverage12.3%
Canopy area0.13 ha
Inside ravine system0.0%
Water surface inside park0.0%
Nearest water (if outside park)1,228 m
Estimated green100.0%
City-mapped trees inside polygon5
Tree density4.7 / ha
Cover diversity (Shannon, 0–100)53.9
Sample points used73

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

Enclosure / Eyes on Park

10% weightmeasured 80%
74.0 / 100

122 buildings within 25 m of the park edge (11 mid-rise, 111 low-rise, 0 tower); avg edge height 6.6 m (~2 floors); 14.6 buildings per 100 m of 834 m perimeter — strong frontage density; edges are low-rise (mostly 2–3 floors); no towers immediately adjacent. "Eyes on the park" come strongest from the 11 mid-rise edge buildings.

Buildings within 25 m122
Buildings within 50 m122
Avg edge height6.6 m (~2 floors)
Tallest edge building13.8 m
Mid-rise (3–7 floors)11
Low-rise (< 3 floors)111
Towers (≥ 13 floors)0
Frontage density14.63 per 100 m perimeter
Mid-rise share of edge9%
Tower share of edge0%
Blank-edge share (proxy)0%
Park perimeter834 m

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

Border Vacuum Risk

10% weightpartial 60%
100.0 risk

Border-vacuum factors within 50 m of the park: North Toronto Subdivision, North Toronto Subdivision, North Toronto Subdivision, North Toronto Subdivision, North Toronto Subdivision, North Toronto Subdivision. 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 (1 types · 1 records)

  • playground

Nearby active-edge features (38)

  • rail — North Toronto Subdivision7 m
  • rail — North Toronto Subdivision8 m
  • rail — North Toronto Subdivision11 m
  • rail — North Toronto Subdivision11 m
  • rail — North Toronto Subdivision18 m
  • rail — North Toronto Subdivision20 m
  • retail — PASSAGE TATTOO24 m
  • transit stop — Dovercourt Rd at Geary Ave24 m
  • retail — Emblem28 m
  • restaurant — Amelia's Market44 m
  • transit stop — Dovercourt Rd at Geary Ave51 m
  • cafe — Dark Horse51 m
  • retail — Famiglia Baldassarre60 m
  • parking lot61 m
  • transit stop — Dovercourt Rd at Dupont St64 m
  • transit stop — Salvador Allende Court67 m
  • transit stop — Dupont St at Dovercourt Rd68 m
  • transit stop — Dupont Street68 m
  • rail — North Toronto Subdivision68 m
  • transit stop — Dupont St at Ossington Ave70 m
  • transit stop71 m
  • retail — Gaucho Pie Co.86 m
  • transit stop — Dupont St at Dovercourt Rd86 m
  • retail — Total90 m
  • transit stop — Dovercourt Rd at Dupont St90 m
  • retail — Master Mechanic91 m
  • cafe — Rooms Coffee | 915 Dupont91 m
  • parking lot98 m
  • transit stop — Dupont St at Ossington Ave108 m
  • parking lot117 m
  • rail — North Toronto Subdivision117 m
  • rail — North Toronto Subdivision118 m
  • transit stop — Dupont Street138 m
  • retail — Joe's Convenience138 m
  • rail140 m
  • retail — Grow It All161 m
  • rail — North Toronto Subdivision168 m
  • restaurant — Blood Brothers Brewing192 m

Park profile

Five-axis radar across the structural dimensions.

Edge ActivationConnectivityAmenity DiversityNatural ComfortEnclosureGeary Avenue Parkette

Citywide percentile ranks

Across all Toronto parks in the dataset.

  • Overall vitality
    38th
  • Edge activation
    65th
  • Connectivity
    85th
  • Amenity diversity
    83th
  • Natural comfort
    61th
  • Enclosure
    75th

Most similar parks

Closest in metric space across the five structural dimensions.

Most opposite parks

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

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 Geary Avenue Parkettematters. 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.

Rate this park on as many dimensions as you have an opinion about. 1 = not at all · 5 = strongly. Skip the ones you don't feel sure about. Aggregated only — no comments stored at the row level.

feels socially active
feels comfortable
feels safe
feels connected
feels welcoming
feels ecological / natural
feels good for lingering
feels family-friendly
feels culturally important

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.
  • 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.