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LAWRENCE HEIGHTS COMMUNITY CENTRE - Building Ground — site photograph
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Urban Plazacluster ·Walkable Mid-Rise Neighbourhood Parks (enclosure-leaning)Englemount-Lawrence (32)confidence moderatereal Toronto data

LAWRENCE HEIGHTS COMMUNITY CENTRE - Building Ground

Urban Plaza, below average overall (score 28, rank ~21th percentile). Strongest: amenity diversity; weakest: edge activation.

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

LAWRENCE HEIGHTS COMMUNITY CENTRE - Building Ground scores 27.8 / 100. Strongest dimensions: enclosure / eyes on park and connectivity. Weakest: edge activation (0). Border-vacuum risk is elevated (100). This score is a transparent reading of Jane Jacobs-style vitality factors — not a definitive judgment.

Best for:daily passing-throughpocket meetings

Area · 0.53 ha

Vitality Score
28/100

Weighted across six dimensions · confidence 63%

Data Confidence
27.8 / 100
Citywide
21st
of all 3,273 parks
Among Urban Plaza
6th
same primary typology
Expected for similar parks
39
median in small Urban Plaza (n=100)
Performance gap
-11
raw − expected · context confidence high
modest underperformer

Scores are not bell-curved. Percentiles and expected scores provide context without changing the underlying model.

Explain this score

Where did the 28 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 · p35
-12.5
Amenity Diversity12 · p76
-7.6
Border Vacuum Risk100 (risk)
-5.0
Enclosure / Eyes on Park74 · p75
+2.4
Connectivity53 · p60
+0.6
Natural Comfort50 · p60
+0.0

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

LAWRENCE HEIGHTS COMMUNITY CENTRE - Building Ground works because its amenity diversity score (12) is above average and its enclosure (74) is also above-average.

What limits this park

LAWRENCE HEIGHTS COMMUNITY CENTRE - Building Ground's edges are fronted by border-vacuum land uses (highways, rail, parking, blank institutional) — risk score 100.

Most distinctive characteristic

Most distinctive feature: exceptionally high amenity diversity (12, top quartile).

Jacobs reading

LAWRENCE HEIGHTS COMMUNITY CENTRE - Building Ground 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 (74) but the surrounding streets are quiet (edge activation 0) — frame without animation.

Performance in context

  • Reads as a modest underperformer relative to comparable parks (gap -11; cohort: small Urban Plaza).

Typology classification

confidence 70%
Urban Plaza

Classified as Urban Plaza: 5348 m², paved (0% canopy), 4.7 buildings/100 m

Edge Activation

25% weightpartial 60%
0.0 / 100

Within 100 m of the park edge: 1 active uses (transit_stop) and 11 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%
52.9 / 100

Connectivity blends paths, intersections, transit, entrances, and edge density. This park has 0 mapped paths/walkways and 9 sidewalk segments within 50 m; 7 street intersections within 100 m; 30 transit stops within a 400 m walk; 0 estimated access points across ~338 m of perimeter. edge density is healthy — no superblock penalty. Source coverage: centreline, pedestrian_network, transit_osm.

Streets within 25 m7
Intersections within 100 m7
Paths/walkways (50 m)0
Sidewalk segments (50 m)9
Transit stops (400 m)30
Estimated entrances0
Edge connections / 100 m perimeter2.07
Park perimeter338 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 (skatepark). 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% weightinferred 15%
50.0 / 100

Natural Comfort requires inputs not yet loaded for this park (Treed Area / Ravine / Waterbodies / Street Trees). Score is held at a neutral 50 with low confidence — read with caution.

Canopy coverage0.0%
Canopy area0.00 ha
Inside ravine system0.0%
Water surface inside park0.0%
Nearest water (if outside park)1,500 m
Estimated green100.0%
City-mapped trees inside polygon0
Tree density0.0 / ha
Cover diversity (Shannon, 0–100)0.0
Sample points used37

Source: Treed Area / Ravine / Waterbodies / Street Trees

Enclosure / Eyes on Park

10% weightmeasured 80%
73.8 / 100

16 buildings within 25 m of the park edge (5 mid-rise, 11 low-rise, 0 tower); avg edge height 8.7 m (~3 floors); 4.7 buildings per 100 m of 338 m perimeter — strong frontage density; edges are low-rise (mostly 2–3 floors); no towers immediately adjacent. "Eyes on the park" come strongest from the 5 mid-rise edge buildings.

Buildings within 25 m16
Buildings within 50 m16
Avg edge height8.7 m (~3 floors)
Tallest edge building23.4 m
Mid-rise (3–7 floors)5
Low-rise (< 3 floors)11
Towers (≥ 13 floors)0
Frontage density4.74 per 100 m perimeter
Mid-rise share of edge31%
Tower share of edge0%
Blank-edge share (proxy)0%
Park perimeter338 m

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

Border Vacuum Risk

10% weightpartial 60%
100.0 risk

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

  • skatepark

Nearby active-edge features (35)

  • transit stop0 m
  • parking lot0 m
  • parking lot0 m
  • parking lot12 m
  • parking lot12 m
  • parking lot13 m
  • parking lot24 m
  • parking lot24 m
  • parking lot30 m
  • parking lot32 m
  • parking lot54 m
  • parking lot57 m
  • parking lot101 m
  • parking lot108 m
  • parking lot110 m
  • parking lot116 m
  • parking lot118 m
  • parking lot122 m
  • transit stop — Flemington Rd at Varna Dr134 m
  • highway — Allen Road137 m
  • transit stop — Shermount Avenue138 m
  • parking lot140 m
  • parking lot148 m
  • transit stop — Flemington Rd at Replin Rd149 m
  • transit stop — Flemington Rd at Replin Rd152 m
  • parking lot155 m
  • transit stop — Shermount Avenue159 m
  • parking lot163 m
  • transit stop164 m
  • parking lot172 m
  • highway — Allen Road173 m
  • parking lot175 m
  • parking lot186 m
  • transit stop — Varna Dr at Tundra Lane193 m
  • transit stop — Varna Dr at Flemington Rd198 m

Park profile

Five-axis radar across the structural dimensions.

Edge ActivationConnectivityAmenity DiversityNatural ComfortEnclosureLAWRENCE HEIGHTS COMMUNITY CENTRE - Building Ground

Citywide percentile ranks

Across all Toronto parks in the dataset.

  • Overall vitality
    21th
  • Edge activation
    35th
  • Connectivity
    60th
  • Amenity diversity
    76th
  • Natural comfort
    60th
  • Enclosure
    75th

Most similar parks

Closest in metric space across the five structural dimensions.

Most opposite parks

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

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 LAWRENCE HEIGHTS COMMUNITY CENTRE - Building Groundmatters. 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.

Rate this park on as many dimensions as you have an opinion about. 1 = not at all · 5 = strongly. Skip the ones you don't feel sure about. Aggregated only — no comments stored at the row level.

feels socially active
feels comfortable
feels safe
feels connected
feels welcoming
feels ecological / natural
feels good for lingering
feels family-friendly
feels culturally important

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.
  • 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.