Athletic / Recreation Parkcluster ·Walkable Mid-Rise Neighbourhood Parks (large-scale)O'Connor-Parkview (54)confidence moderatereal Toronto data

Topham Park

Athletic / Recreation Park, above average overall (score 41, rank ~78th percentile). Strongest: amenity diversity; weakest: natural comfort.

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

Topham Park scores 40.7 / 100. Strongest dimensions: enclosure / eyes on park and connectivity. Weakest: edge activation (0). Border-vacuum risk is low. This score is a transparent reading of Jane Jacobs-style vitality factors — not a definitive judgment.

Best for:organised sportactive recreation

Area · 2.05 ha

Vitality Score

41/100

Weighted across six dimensions · confidence 68%

Data Confidence

40.7 / 100

Citywide

78th

of all 3,273 parks

Among Athletic / Recreation Park

39th

same primary typology

Expected for similar parks

median in medium Athletic / Recreation Park (n=68)

Performance gap

-1

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 41 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 Activation0 · p59

-12.5

Border Vacuum Risk12 (risk)

+3.8

Amenity Diversity35 · p98

-3.1

Connectivity64 · p80

+2.7

Natural Comfort39 · p35

-1.6

Enclosure / Eyes on Park64 · p54

+1.4

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

Topham Park works because its amenity diversity score (35) is one of the city's strongest and its connectivity (64) is also top quartile.

What limits this park

Topham Park is held back by natural comfort (39, below-average)— only 0% canopy means little summer shade.

Most distinctive characteristic

Most distinctive feature: exceptionally high amenity diversity (35, top decile).

Jacobs reading

Topham Park 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 0) — frame without animation.

Performance in context

Citywide rank is high (78th) but typology rank is more modest (39th) — the strength likely comes from the dataset average pulling lower than this typology’s baseline.

Typology classification

confidence 75%

Athletic / Recreation Parkalso reads as Neighbourhood Park

Classified as Athletic / Recreation Park: 50% of amenity types are athletic (sports_field, tennis). Secondary read: Neighbourhood Park (2.1 ha, framed by 1 mid-rise vs 0 towers).

Edge Activation

25% weightpartial 60%

0.0 / 100

Within 100 m of the park edge: 0 active uses (none) and 1 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%

63.7 / 100

Connectivity blends paths, intersections, transit, entrances, and edge density. This park has 4 mapped paths/walkways and 14 sidewalk segments within 50 m; 13 street intersections within 100 m; 18 transit stops within a 400 m walk; 2 estimated access points across ~704 m of perimeter. edge density is healthy — no superblock penalty. Source coverage: centreline, pedestrian_network, transit_osm.

Streets within 25 m12

Intersections within 100 m13

Paths/walkways (50 m)4

Sidewalk segments (50 m)14

Transit stops (400 m)18

Estimated entrances2

Edge connections / 100 m perimeter1.71

Park perimeter704 m

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

Amenity Diversity

20% weightmeasured 75%

34.5 / 100

4 distinct amenity types in the park (playground, sports_field, tennis, washroom). 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% weightpartial 45%

39.2 / 100

Natural-comfort components for this park: ~4.4% effective canopy (0.0% from contiguous tree polygons + scattered tree density); nearest waterbody ~495 m; 13 city-mapped trees inside the polygon (6.3/ha). Reading: exposed. Source coverage: waterbodies, street_trees. Impervious surface is approximated (Toronto's authoritative layer ships only as a raster GeoTIFF).

Canopy coverage0.0%

Canopy area0.00 ha

Inside ravine system0.0%

Water surface inside park0.0%

Nearest water (if outside park)495 m

Estimated green100.0%

City-mapped trees inside polygon13

Tree density6.3 / ha

Cover diversity (Shannon, 0–100)0.0

Sample points used142

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

Enclosure / Eyes on Park

10% weightmeasured 80%

64.0 / 100

151 buildings within 25 m of the park edge (1 mid-rise, 150 low-rise, 0 tower); avg edge height 5.0 m (~2 floors); 21.5 buildings per 100 m of 704 m perimeter — strong frontage density; edges are barely there or single-storey; no towers immediately adjacent. "Eyes on the park" come strongest from the 1 mid-rise edge buildings.

Buildings within 25 m151

Buildings within 50 m151

Avg edge height5.0 m (~2 floors)

Tallest edge building9.5 m

Mid-rise (3–7 floors)1

Low-rise (< 3 floors)150

Towers (≥ 13 floors)0

Frontage density21.46 per 100 m perimeter

Mid-rise share of edge1%

Tower share of edge0%

Blank-edge share (proxy)0%

Park perimeter704 m

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

Border Vacuum Risk

10% weightpartial 60%

12.0 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

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 (4 types · 4 records)

playground
sports field
tennis
washroom

Nearby active-edge features (12)

parking lot10 m
restaurant — 4C Broast Chicken106 m
parking lot111 m
transit stop — Dohme Avenue125 m
transit stop — Dohme Avenue129 m
restaurant — Harvey's136 m
parking lot147 m
transit stop — O'Connor Dr at Yardley Ave152 m
parking lot157 m
parking lot165 m
parking lot168 m
transit stop — Selwyn Avenue190 m

Park profile

Five-axis radar across the structural dimensions.

Citywide percentile ranks

Across all Toronto parks in the dataset.

Overall vitality
78th
Edge activation
59th
Connectivity
80th
Amenity diversity
98th
Natural comfort
35th
Enclosure
54th

Most similar parks

Closest in metric space across the five structural dimensions.

Malvern ParkAthletic / Recreation Park34
Clydesdale ParkAthletic / Recreation Park40
Sunnydale Acres ParkAthletic / Recreation Park41
Stephen Leacock ParkAthletic / Recreation Park38
Lanyard ParkAthletic / Recreation Park42

Most opposite parks

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

Market Lane ParkUrban Plaza63
Manor Community GreenUrban Plaza57
Ryerson Community ParkUrban Plaza60
Simcoe ParkTower-Community Green Space51
Bernard Avenue Road AllowanceUrban Plaza54

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 Topham 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.

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 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.