Parkettecluster ·Walkable Mid-Rise Neighbourhood Parks (ravine-leaning)Newtonbrook East (50)confidence moderatereal Toronto data

Pemberton Parkette

Parkette, middle of the pack overall (score 34, rank ~49th percentile). Strongest: natural comfort; weakest: connectivity.

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

Pemberton Parkette scores 33.9 / 100. Strongest dimensions: enclosure / eyes on park and natural comfort. Weakest: edge activation (0). Border-vacuum risk is elevated (36). This score is a transparent reading of Jane Jacobs-style vitality factors — not a definitive judgment.

Best for:a quiet siteveryday neighbourhood use

Area · 0.13 ha

Vitality Score

34/100

Weighted across six dimensions · confidence 70%

Data Confidence

33.9 / 100

Citywide

49th

of all 3,273 parks

Among Parkette

54th

same primary typology

Expected for similar parks

median in pocket Parkette (n=287)

Performance gap

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 34 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 · p26

-12.5

Amenity Diversity12 · p72

-7.6

Connectivity33 · p23

-3.4

Natural Comfort71 · p84

+3.1

Enclosure / Eyes on Park79 · p82

+2.9

Border Vacuum Risk36 (risk)

+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

Pemberton Parkette works because its natural comfort score (71) is above average and its enclosure (79) is also top quartile (38% tree canopy provides real shade).

What limits this park

Pemberton Parkette is held back by connectivity (33, bottom quartile); border-vacuum risk is also elevated (36).

Most distinctive characteristic

Most distinctive feature: exceptionally high natural comfort (71, top quartile).

Jacobs reading

Pemberton Parkette sits between an urban social park and an ecological retreat — moderately useful for both, exceptionally suited to neither.

Tradeoffs

Natural comfort (71) significantly outpaces connectivity (33) — restorative but hard to reach for daily use.
The park is enclosed by buildings (79) but the surrounding streets are quiet (edge activation 0) — frame without animation.

Typology classification

confidence 70%

Parkette

Classified as Parkette: small (1255 m²) with strong building frontage (37.7 per 100 m)

Edge Activation

25% weightpartial 60%

0.0 / 100

Within 100 m of the park edge: 2 active uses (transit_stop) and 6 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%

33.1 / 100

Connectivity blends paths, intersections, transit, entrances, and edge density. This park has 0 mapped paths/walkways and 7 sidewalk segments within 50 m; 2 street intersections within 100 m; 16 transit stops within a 400 m walk; 0 estimated access points across ~143 m of perimeter. low edge density — significant superblock penalty applied. Source coverage: centreline, pedestrian_network, transit_osm.

Streets within 25 m0

Intersections within 100 m2

Paths/walkways (50 m)0

Sidewalk segments (50 m)7

Transit stops (400 m)16

Estimated entrances0

Edge connections / 100 m perimeter0.00

Park perimeter143 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% weightpartial 60%

70.9 / 100

Natural-comfort components for this park: 37.5% estimated tree canopy; nearest waterbody ~535 m; 4 city-mapped trees inside the polygon (4.0/ha). Reading: partially shaded. Source coverage: treed_area, waterbodies, street_trees. Impervious surface is approximated (Toronto's authoritative layer ships only as a raster GeoTIFF).

Canopy coverage37.5%

Canopy area0.05 ha

Inside ravine system0.0%

Water surface inside park0.0%

Nearest water (if outside park)535 m

Estimated green100.0%

City-mapped trees inside polygon4

Tree density4.0 / ha

Cover diversity (Shannon, 0–100)95.4

Sample points used16

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

Enclosure / Eyes on Park

10% weightmeasured 80%

78.8 / 100

54 buildings within 25 m of the park edge (5 mid-rise, 49 low-rise, 0 tower); avg edge height 5.6 m (~2 floors); 37.7 buildings per 100 m of 143 m perimeter — strong frontage density; edges are barely there or single-storey; no towers immediately adjacent. "Eyes on the park" come strongest from the 5 mid-rise edge buildings.

Buildings within 25 m54

Buildings within 50 m54

Avg edge height5.6 m (~2 floors)

Tallest edge building10.8 m

Mid-rise (3–7 floors)5

Low-rise (< 3 floors)49

Towers (≥ 13 floors)0

Frontage density37.67 per 100 m perimeter

Mid-rise share of edge9%

Tower share of edge0%

Blank-edge share (proxy)0%

Park perimeter143 m

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

Border Vacuum Risk

10% weightpartial 60%

36.0 risk

Border-vacuum factors within 50 m of the park: parking_lot, 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

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 (13)

parking lot7 m
parking lot9 m
transit stop — Dudley Avenue42 m
parking lot46 m
parking lot52 m
transit stop — Dudley Avenue70 m
parking lot76 m
parking lot97 m
transit stop — Willowdale Ave at Finch Avenue E158 m
transit stop — Finch Ave E at Willowdale Ave164 m
retail174 m
transit stop — Finch Ave E at Willowdale Ave183 m
transit stop — Willowdale Ave at Finch Avenue E187 m

Park profile

Five-axis radar across the structural dimensions.

Citywide percentile ranks

Across all Toronto parks in the dataset.

Overall vitality
49th
Edge activation
26th
Connectivity
23th
Amenity diversity
72th
Natural comfort
84th
Enclosure
82th

Most similar parks

Closest in metric space across the five structural dimensions.

Pottery PlaygroundParkette36
BEACHES RECREATION CENTRE - Building GroundsParkette37
Franklin ParkRavine / Naturalized Park40
ST. ANDREWS JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL - Building GroundsNeighbourhood Park34
Cedarvale ParkRavine / Naturalized Park34

Most opposite parks

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

ALEX WILSON COMMUNITY GARDEN - Open Green SpaceUrban Plaza59
Leslie Grove ParkParkette68
Bellevue Square ParkCivic Square66
Norman Jewison ParkUrban Plaza57
Market Lane ParkUrban Plaza63

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 Pemberton 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.

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.
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.
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.