St. Andrew'S Playground
Urban Plaza, in the top tier overall (score 46, rank ~90th percentile). Strongest: connectivity; weakest: natural comfort.
Photo by Darcy via Google Places · cached 5/9/2026
St. Andrew'S Playground scores 45.8 / 100. Strongest dimensions: enclosure / eyes on park and connectivity. Weakest: edge activation (14). Border-vacuum risk is low. This score is a transparent reading of Jane Jacobs-style vitality factors — not a definitive judgment.
Area · 0.59 ha
Weighted across six dimensions · confidence 68%
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 46 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
- Connectivity (79) significantly outpaces natural comfort (39) — well placed in the city but offers little shade or ecological respite.
- The park is enclosed by buildings (87) but the surrounding streets are quiet (edge activation 14) — frame without animation.
- 11 nearby towers cast wind and shadow without contributing canopy — passive surveillance is plentiful but human-scale comfort is not.
- Strong physical conditions (score 46) but weak observed activity signals (9) — the model says this should work, but events, mentions, and counters say it isn't being used at the level the urban form would predict.
- High connectivity (79) coexists with little programming evidence — easy to reach, but no recurring civic life detected.
Performance in context
- A modest overperformer for its urban plaza typology (+7 vs the median in small Urban Plaza).
Typology classification
Classified as Urban Plaza: 5907 m², paved (0% canopy), 17.5 buildings/100 m
Edge Activation
Within 100 m of the park edge: 14 active uses (cafe, restaurant, retail, school) 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
Connectivity blends paths, intersections, transit, entrances, and edge density. This park has 23 mapped paths/walkways and 21 sidewalk segments within 50 m; 22 street intersections within 100 m; 26 transit stops within a 400 m walk; 5 estimated access points across ~320 m of perimeter. edge density is healthy — no superblock penalty. Source coverage: centreline, pedestrian_network, transit_osm.
Source: Toronto Centreline V2 + Pedestrian Network + OSM transit stops
Amenity Diversity
2 distinct amenity types in the park (dog_area, 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
Natural-comfort components for this park: ~6.3% effective canopy (0.0% from contiguous tree polygons + scattered tree density); nearest waterbody ~1121 m; 9 city-mapped trees inside the polygon (9.0/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
56 buildings within 25 m of the park edge (31 mid-rise, 14 low-rise, 11 tower); avg edge height 21.1 m (~7 floors); 17.5 buildings per 100 m of 320 m perimeter — strong frontage density; edges lean tall but still framed; 11 towers ≥ 40 m within 25 m of the edge. "Eyes on the park" come strongest from the 31 mid-rise edge buildings.
Source: Toronto 3D Massing (building footprints + heights)
Border Vacuum Risk
Border-vacuum factors within 50 m of the park: 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
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 (2 types · 2 records)
- dog area
- playground
Nearby active-edge features (80)
- retail — Rotblott's Discount Warehouse23 m
- retail — Cops treats23 m
- restaurant — Impact24 m
- parking lot26 m
- restaurant — Nutbar33 m
- parking lot34 m
- restaurant — nutbar35 m
- restaurant — Lee Restaurant55 m
- restaurant — UNIUN60 m
- school — Oasis Alternative Secondary School61 m
- parking lot61 m
- parking lot62 m
- retail — Sobr Market Richmond63 m
- retail — Mankind Grooming69 m
- parking lot70 m
- retail — Pryntco Toronto72 m
- parking lot78 m
- retail — Mankind Grooming81 m
- parking lot82 m
- cafe — Fahrenheit Coffee91 m
- restaurant — Jacobs & Co. Steakhouse98 m
- cafe — Jimmy's Coffee103 m
- restaurant — Campechano Taqueria104 m
- retail — Astley Gilbert107 m
- cafe — Forget Me Not Cafe109 m
- parking lot114 m
- restaurant — Citizen114 m
- retail — Clay With Me116 m
- restaurant — Little Sister120 m
- restaurant — Wilbur Mexicana134 m
- restaurant — Four Brothers Pizza134 m
- retail136 m
- restaurant — Myth138 m
- restaurant — The Keg140 m
- restaurant — Java House140 m
- restaurant — Belfast Love Public House141 m
- restaurant — Craft Kitchen144 m
- parking lot145 m
- restaurant — VELA145 m
- restaurant — Cibo148 m
- retail — Value Buds149 m
- retail149 m
- retail — Arton Beads149 m
- retail149 m
- retail — Affordable Textiles150 m
- parking lot150 m
- retail — World Sew Centre150 m
- retail — Fresh Picked Fresh Produce & Flowers151 m
- retail — Mama Loves You Vintage151 m
- restaurant — The Grand151 m
- retail — Hi Beads152 m
- retail — On Your Face Optical152 m
- retail152 m
- retail — The Dot152 m
- retail — Freshly Baked Tees152 m
- retail — PC Shop Computers152 m
- retail152 m
- restaurant — Greta153 m
- retail — Comfort Nails153 m
- retail154 m
- retail — Dollarama156 m
- retail — Yes Electric Tattoo157 m
- retail159 m
- retail — mim161 m
- retail — mindzai162 m
- retail — LCBO162 m
- retail — Homebase163 m
- transit stop — Augusta Avenue163 m
- retail — Backdoor163 m
- retail — The Légère Studio164 m
- restaurant — Bar Altura164 m
- restaurant — Añejo164 m
- transit stop — Portland Street165 m
- restaurant — Burrito Boyz165 m
- retail — Brosche Bridal166 m
- transit stop — Augusta Avenue166 m
- retail — Third Floor Tailors167 m
- restaurant — Rosie’s Burger167 m
- retail — The Printing House168 m
- retail — Mokuba170 m
Park profile
Five-axis radar across the structural dimensions.
Citywide percentile ranks
Across all Toronto parks in the dataset.
- Overall vitality90th
- Edge activation71th
- Connectivity98th
- Amenity diversity91th
- Natural comfort36th
- Enclosure94th
Most similar parks
Closest in metric space across the five structural dimensions.
- Felstead Avenue PlaygroundNeighbourhood Park47
- Salem ParketteUrban Plaza37
- Barbara Hall ParkParkette47
- Joel Weeks ParkParkette48
- Westmoreland Avenue ParketteUrban Plaza40
Most opposite parks
Furthest in metric space — useful for recognising what kind of park this isn’t.
- Toronto Islands - Muggs Island ParkRavine / Naturalized Park25
- Trca Lands ( 26)Ravine / Naturalized Park27
- Rouge ParkRavine / Naturalized Park28
- Rouge ParkWaterfront Park25
- Rouge ParkRavine / Naturalized Park26
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-shaded city park featuring a playground, benches & an off-leash area for dogs.” — Google editorial summary
p87 citywide · p99 within Urban Plaza
Source: Google Places API · match high (1.00 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 St. Andrew'S Playgroundmatters. 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.
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.