Lillian H. Smith Park
Urban Plaza, in the top tier overall (score 47, rank ~92th percentile). Strongest: enclosure; weakest: natural comfort.
Aerial — City of Toronto orthophoto, ~8 cm/px source · cached 5/9/2026
Lillian H. Smith Park scores 47.1 / 100. Strongest dimensions: enclosure / eyes on park and edge activation. 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 · 0.08 ha
Weighted across six dimensions · confidence 56%
Scores are not bell-curved. Percentiles and expected scores provide context without changing the underlying model.
Explain this score
Where did the 47 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
- 6 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 urban plaza typology (+11 vs the median in pocket Urban Plaza).
Typology classification
Classified as Urban Plaza: 781 m², paved (0% canopy), 69.5 buildings/100 m
Edge Activation
Within 100 m of the park edge: 23 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 7 sidewalk segments within 50 m; 11 street intersections within 100 m; 11 transit stops within a 400 m walk; 0 estimated access points across ~112 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: ~1.4% effective canopy (0.0% from contiguous tree polygons + scattered tree density); 2 city-mapped trees inside the polygon (2.0/ha). Reading: exposed. Source coverage: 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
78 buildings within 25 m of the park edge (38 mid-rise, 34 low-rise, 6 tower); avg edge height 15.6 m (~5 floors); 69.5 buildings per 100 m of 112 m perimeter — strong frontage density; edges are at a Jacobs-scale walkable mid-rise (3–7 floors); 6 towers ≥ 40 m within 25 m of the edge. "Eyes on the park" come strongest from the 38 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. 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)
- parking lot4 m
- restaurant — Panera Bread35 m
- restaurant — Tahini's35 m
- restaurant — Self Ramen Bar39 m
- restaurant — Terima43 m
- restaurant — Cosmic Pizza46 m
- parking lot61 m
- restaurant — Taco Bell65 m
- retail — Shawarma Max71 m
- retail — 180° Smoke Vape Store87 m
- restaurant — GoGrill87 m
- retail — Net Plaza89 m
- restaurant — Pizza Nova91 m
- restaurant — Popeyes92 m
- retail — Cozy Grotto92 m
- restaurant — Qin's Garden93 m
- retail — Tankx E-bike93 m
- restaurant — Korean Grillhouse93 m
- retail — Lucky's Trading Co. Ltd.94 m
- restaurant — Burger King95 m
- restaurant — Mother's Dumplings96 m
- transit stop — Spadina Avenue96 m
- restaurant — Kung Fu Duck97 m
- retail — Gao Jun Chinese Arts & Crafts Center99 m
- cafe — Tim Hortons100 m
- restaurant — Crimson Teas100 m
- retail — Bikechain102 m
- restaurant — Jian Bing Club103 m
- retail — Play De Record103 m
- restaurant — A1 Stone Pot106 m
- restaurant — Kokumi Mini Hot Pot110 m
- retail — 7-Eleven111 m
- retail — J Hair114 m
- retail — Nail Diary Studio115 m
- transit stop — College Street116 m
- retail — Reiwatakiya121 m
- retail — Han Bingo125 m
- restaurant — Jerk King126 m
- restaurant — Tasty's Restaurant & Catering127 m
- retail — In Fashion129 m
- restaurant — Smoke's Poutinerie130 m
- parking lot131 m
- retail — XOXO Tea131 m
- retail — Collective135 m
- restaurant — ChiChop x norigo136 m
- cafe — Honeymoon Dessert136 m
- restaurant — Subway136 m
- restaurant — El Mocambo Tavern137 m
- retail — A & C Games137 m
- retail — Gwartzman137 m
- retail — Tech Source137 m
- restaurant — Red Lounge137 m
- restaurant — A Sezchuan Restaurant139 m
- retail — Toronto Hair Care141 m
- restaurant — Simmer Huang141 m
- retail — A&C Games141 m
- restaurant — Spice & Aroma142 m
- retail — Emmo143 m
- retail — Smoke & Variety143 m
- retail — University of Toronto Bookstore144 m
- retail — Yogo Yugurt146 m
- retail — JJ international146 m
- retail — Sahar147 m
- restaurant — Anh Dao150 m
- restaurant — Sizzler Kabab153 m
- restaurant — Hungking157 m
- transit stop — Spadina Avenue157 m
- retail — Furonto Impex158 m
- transit stop — College Street159 m
- retail — Cotton Best161 m
- transit stop — Beverley Street161 m
- parking lot161 m
- retail163 m
- retail — Maga T-shirt Warehouse163 m
- restaurant — Song Tea166 m
- restaurant — Canton Chili172 m
- restaurant — Grossman's Tavern175 m
- retail — jump+175 m
- restaurant — Xiaobiandan175 m
- restaurant — Chongqing Chicken Hot Pot176 m
Park profile
Five-axis radar across the structural dimensions.
Citywide percentile ranks
Across all Toronto parks in the dataset.
- Overall vitality92th
- Edge activation98th
- Connectivity34th
- Amenity diversity45th
- Natural comfort15th
- Enclosure100th
Most similar parks
Closest in metric space across the five structural dimensions.
- Hto Park WestCorridor / Linear Park45
- Montclair Avenue ParketteUrban Plaza50
- Ed And Anne Mirvish ParketteUrban Plaza45
- Glasgow Street ParketteUrban Plaza50
- Glen Davis RavineRavine / Naturalized Park42
Most opposite parks
Furthest in metric space — useful for recognising what kind of park this isn’t.
- Trca Lands ( 26)Ravine / Naturalized Park27
- Rouge ParkRavine / Naturalized Park28
- Toronto Islands - Muggs Island ParkRavine / Naturalized Park25
- Rouge ParkWaterfront Park25
- Toronto Islands - Forestry Island ParkWaterfront Park30
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 Lillian H. Smith Parkmatters. 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.