David Pecaut Square
Civic Square, in the top tier overall (score 48, rank ~93th percentile). Strongest: edge activation; weakest: enclosure.
Photo by Manuel Rodil via Google Places · cached 5/9/2026
David Pecaut Square scores 47.5 / 100. Strongest dimensions: edge activation and enclosure / eyes on park. 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.
Area · 1.18 ha
Weighted across six dimensions · confidence 59%
Scores are not bell-curved. Percentiles and expected scores provide context without changing the underlying model.
Street context
Park polygon highlighted on the citywide map. Connectivity, transit, and edge conditions read at a glance.
Top-down view
City of Toronto orthophoto, ~8 cm/px. Reads the park’s footprint, paths, treed area, and edge conditions from above.
City of Toronto Orthophoto · cot_ortho most-current MapServer
Explain this score
Where did the 48 come from? Each weighted contribution against a neutral 50 baseline. Green = pushed up; red = pulled down.
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
What limits this park
Most distinctive characteristic
Jacobs reading
Tradeoffs
- 17 nearby towers cast wind and shadow without contributing canopy — passive surveillance is plentiful but human-scale comfort is not.
Performance in context
- A modest overperformer for its civic square typology (+8 vs the median in medium Civic Square).
Typology classification
Classified as Civic Square: name flags as civic square + 39 buildings frame the edge
Edge Activation
Within 100 m of the park edge: 51 active uses (restaurant, cafe, retail, 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
Connectivity blends paths, intersections, transit, entrances, and edge density. This park has 0 mapped paths/walkways and 8 sidewalk segments within 50 m; 8 street intersections within 100 m; 28 transit stops within a 400 m walk; 0 estimated access points across ~771 m of perimeter. low edge density — significant superblock penalty applied. Source coverage: centreline, pedestrian_network, transit_osm.
Source: Toronto Centreline V2 + Pedestrian Network + OSM transit stops
Amenity Diversity
No amenities recorded — score is 0 until inventory is loaded.
Source: Toronto Parks & Recreation Facilities + OSM amenity tags
Natural Comfort
Natural-comfort components for this park: ~8.9% effective canopy (0.0% from contiguous tree polygons + scattered tree density); nearest waterbody ~869 m; 15 city-mapped trees inside the polygon (12.7/ha). Reading: exposed. Source coverage: waterbodies, street_trees. Impervious surface is approximated (Toronto's authoritative layer ships only as a raster GeoTIFF).
Source: Toronto Treed Area + Ravine + Waterbodies + Street Tree Inventory
Enclosure / Eyes on Park
39 buildings within 25 m of the park edge (15 mid-rise, 7 low-rise, 17 tower); avg edge height 54.7 m (~18 floors); 5.1 buildings per 100 m of 771 m perimeter — strong frontage density; edges dominated by towers; 17 towers ≥ 40 m within 25 m of the edge. "Eyes on the park" come strongest from the 15 mid-rise edge buildings.
Source: Toronto 3D Massing (building footprints + heights)
Border Vacuum Risk
Border-vacuum factors within 50 m of the park: Impark, Impark. 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
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 (80)
- retail — MetroCentre0 m
- restaurant — Subway0 m
- restaurant — Jimmy the Greek0 m
- restaurant — Manchu Wok0 m
- restaurant — Pumpernickel's0 m
- restaurant — Booster Juice0 m
- restaurant — Harvest Green0 m
- restaurant — Urban Appetite0 m
- restaurant — Soup Nutsy0 m
- retail0 m
- cafe — Au Pain Doré0 m
- restaurant — Koha Pacific Kitchen0 m
- cafe — Tim Hortons1 m
- retail — Corporate Printing Services3 m
- restaurant — Minami6 m
- parking lot — Impark6 m
- retail — Exton Dry Cleaners9 m
- retail — EZ Eye Care10 m
- retail — Maoka13 m
- restaurant — Dunn's Famous23 m
- restaurant — Empire Supper Club24 m
- retail — It's A Shoe Repair25 m
- retail — Creative Custom Framing27 m
- restaurant — Shoeless Joe's28 m
- restaurant — Oklahoma Burgers29 m
- restaurant — Ritz Bar32 m
- restaurant — Coffee Oysters Champagne35 m
- parking lot — Impark35 m
- cafe — Starbucks37 m
- transit stop — John Street38 m
- retail — Sutherland-Chan Massage Therapy38 m
- restaurant — Dentsu39 m
- restaurant — Lobster Burger Bar39 m
- restaurant — Oniwa Sushi41 m
- restaurant — Harvest Green43 m
- restaurant — Lee Chen Asian Bistro45 m
- restaurant — Sunset Grill49 m
- restaurant — The Shore Club55 m
- restaurant — Charlotte's Room60 m
- retail — Box Office64 m
- restaurant — Byblos Downtown67 m
- restaurant — Hot dog stand70 m
- retail — King Fresh Foodmarket72 m
- cafe — Starbucks73 m
- restaurant — Elephant & Castle74 m
- restaurant — Bar 40481 m
- cafe — Bevy@The Combine86 m
- restaurant — 7 Wonders Fine Foods90 m
- restaurant — Mirvish Parking95 m
- retail — Tiee Express96 m
- cafe — Second Cup96 m
- restaurant — Aroma Fine Indian Cuisine97 m
- restaurant — Grace O'Malley's99 m
- transit stop — University Avenue, St. Andrew Station101 m
- parking lot102 m
- restaurant — A&W103 m
- cafe — Starbucks105 m
- restaurant — Pancho y Emiliano105 m
- restaurant — O&B Canteen105 m
- restaurant — Milagro Cantina Mexicana106 m
- restaurant — Kinoya113 m
- restaurant — Freshly Squeezed114 m
- retail — International News114 m
- retail — Marketplace116 m
- restaurant — Cultures117 m
- retail — New Tech Imaging Inc.117 m
- retail — International News117 m
- restaurant — Hey Lucy's Wood Oven Pizza117 m
- restaurant — Amaya Express119 m
- parking lot119 m
- restaurant — Grill & Wrap121 m
- restaurant — Kit Kat Italian Bar & Grill122 m
- restaurant — Pai Downtown123 m
- parking lot — Impark123 m
- restaurant — Rock N' Horse124 m
- cafe — Starbucks125 m
- restaurant — JZ's Pizza125 m
- restaurant — N'Awlins125 m
- retail — Whole Health126 m
- restaurant — Umi Sushi Express127 m
Park profile
Five-axis radar across the structural dimensions.
Citywide percentile ranks
Across all Toronto parks in the dataset.
- Overall vitality93th
- Edge activation99th
- Connectivity51th
- Amenity diversity67th
- Natural comfort44th
- Enclosure20th
Most similar parks
Closest in metric space across the five structural dimensions.
- Kennedy ParketteParkette47
- Taylor Creek ParkWaterfront Park50
- Toronto Waterfront ParkWaterfront Park43
- Creekside ParkWaterfront Park48
- Scarborough Hydro Green SpaceParkette49
Most opposite parks
Furthest in metric space — useful for recognising what kind of park this isn’t.
- High ParkRavine / Naturalized Park47
- Trca Lands ( 26)Ravine / Naturalized Park27
- Ramsden ParkRavine / Naturalized Park43
- Earlscourt ParkNeighbourhood Park44
- Toronto Islands - Muggs Island ParkRavine / Naturalized Park25
Visitor signals
Public attention measured by Google Places aggregates. This proxies attention, not occupancy. Aggregate-only — no usernames, no review text, no extra photos beyond the cached hero.
“Tree-lined plaza often used for concerts, with a steel & granite sculpture by Bernie Miller.” — Google editorial summary
p94 citywide · p83 within Civic Square
Source: Google Places API · match high (0.97 composite confidence) · last refreshed 5/9/2026. Privacy contract. Measures public attention, not occupancy.
Human activity signals
Programming, social attention, temporal rhythm, and nearby pedestrian / cycling flow. An experimental aggregate layer that complements the spatial scores — partial coverage, partial confidence.
Activity reading: no inputs available. The strongest signal is public attention / mentions. Source coverage: google-places.
Does this score feel accurate?
Your read of David Pecaut Squarematters. 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.
- 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 FacilitiesInventory of in-park amenities (washrooms, fields, rinks…).
- Toronto Pedestrian NetworkSidewalk segments around and through parks; estimated park entrances.
- Toronto Centreline V2Street segments + intersection nodes near park edges; trails and walkways.
- Toronto 3D MassingBuilding footprints + heights for edge-building counts, frontage density, and tower-in-the-park risk.
- Toronto Treed AreaTree canopy share inside park polygons via stratified-grid sampling.
- Toronto Waterbodies & RiversWater surface inside parks + nearest-water distance for cooling.
- Ravine & Natural Feature ProtectionRavine overlap as a cooling / natural-comfort signal.
- Toronto Street Tree InventoryTree count + density inside park polygons.
- Neighbourhood Profiles(Pending) Equity context proxy.
- OpenStreetMap (Overpass API)Cafés, restaurants, retail, transit stops, parking, highways, rail.