TERRY FOX RECREATION CENTRE - Building Grounds
Neighbourhood Park, below average overall (score 26, rank ~16th percentile). Strongest: enclosure; weakest: natural comfort.
Aerial — City of Toronto orthophoto, ~8 cm/px source · cached 5/9/2026
TERRY FOX RECREATION CENTRE - Building Grounds scores 26.3 / 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.
Area · 1.77 ha
Weighted across six dimensions · confidence 72%
Scores are not bell-curved. Percentiles and expected scores provide context without changing the underlying model.
Explain this score
Where did the 26 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
- The park is enclosed by buildings (80) 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: medium Neighbourhood Park).
Typology classification
Classified as Neighbourhood Park: 1.8 ha, framed by 15 mid-rise vs 0 towers
Edge Activation
Within 100 m of the park edge: 29 active uses (cafe, transit_stop, restaurant, retail, community) and 13 dead/hostile uses (parking_lot, highway). 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 10 sidewalk segments within 50 m; 13 street intersections within 100 m; 14 transit stops within a 400 m walk; 0 estimated access points across ~533 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
1 distinct amenity types in the park (community_centre). 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: 0.8% estimated tree canopy; nearest waterbody ~743 m; 2 city-mapped trees inside the polygon (1.1/ha). Reading: exposed. Source coverage: treed_area, 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
159 buildings within 25 m of the park edge (15 mid-rise, 144 low-rise, 0 tower); avg edge height 6.5 m (~2 floors); 29.8 buildings per 100 m of 533 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 15 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, parking_lot, parking_lot, Danforth Avenue, Danforth Avenue, Danforth Avenue, Danforth Avenue. 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 (1 types · 1 records)
- community centre
Nearby active-edge features (70)
- parking lot0 m
- community — Terry Fox Recreation Centre0 m
- retail — Toronto Kia24 m
- parking lot25 m
- parking lot25 m
- retail — John's Hobbies28 m
- retail28 m
- retail — It's My Party29 m
- cafe — Cafe Juventus29 m
- restaurant — Tequila Sunset Bar29 m
- retail — The Wool Mill32 m
- parking lot32 m
- retail40 m
- restaurant — Friday Burger Company43 m
- highway — Danforth Avenue45 m
- highway — Danforth Avenue45 m
- highway — Danforth Avenue45 m
- highway — Danforth Avenue48 m
- highway — Danforth Avenue53 m
- cafe — Tim Hortons55 m
- transit stop — Cedarvale Avenue58 m
- highway — Danforth Avenue59 m
- retail — Raffaele62 m
- retail — The Montessori Room62 m
- retail62 m
- restaurant — Atto Sushi63 m
- restaurant — Budapest Hungarian Restaurant63 m
- highway — Danforth Avenue64 m
- retail — Children's French Book Corner65 m
- retail — Celebrity Vape65 m
- retail65 m
- retail — Divitt Brasswinds65 m
- retail67 m
- cafe — Poured Coffee69 m
- parking lot72 m
- retail — LIGHTUPK73 m
- retail — Petro-Canada78 m
- cafe — Coffee Time78 m
- retail84 m
- parking lot88 m
- cafe — Qahwah Cafe & Lounge89 m
- retail — Home Hardware98 m
- retail — Derma Bar106 m
- highway — Danforth Avenue106 m
- retail — The Twelfth Fret107 m
- restaurant — Gyoko Sushi110 m
- parking lot111 m
- retail — Freedom Mobile119 m
- highway — Danforth Avenue120 m
- cafe — East Toronto Coffee Co.122 m
- restaurant — La Familigia on the Danforth124 m
- retail — Chatr128 m
- restaurant — Burger Hill138 m
- restaurant — G Lounge145 m
- transit stop — Woodbine Subway Station148 m
- retail — Value Village153 m
- restaurant — Edie's Place158 m
- retail — Cassis Bake158 m
- restaurant — Fusion Kitchen170 m
- transit stop — Woodbine Subway Station171 m
- highway — Danforth Avenue173 m
- highway — Danforth Avenue179 m
- retail182 m
- highway — Danforth Avenue182 m
- retail — Broad Lingerie185 m
- restaurant — Sandy's Resturaunt190 m
- retail — Subway Convenience194 m
- transit stop — Woodbine197 m
- transit stop — Woodbine197 m
- parking lot — Amroth198 m
Park profile
Five-axis radar across the structural dimensions.
Citywide percentile ranks
Across all Toronto parks in the dataset.
- Overall vitality16th
- Edge activation31th
- Connectivity63th
- Amenity diversity74th
- Natural comfort19th
- Enclosure83th
Most similar parks
Closest in metric space across the five structural dimensions.
- ST. ALPHONSUS CATHOLIC SECONDARY SCHOOL - Building GroundsParkette36
- Dunfield ParkUrban Plaza36
- Turnberry North ParkUrban Plaza35
- Don Mills Local ParkUrban Plaza37
- Glen Cedar ParkUrban Plaza36
Most opposite parks
Furthest in metric space — useful for recognising what kind of park this isn’t.
- Mclevin Woods ParkRavine / Naturalized Park49
- Kew GardensNeighbourhood Park71
- Toronto ZooWaterfront Park57
- Trca Lands ( 26)Ravine / Naturalized Park27
- Toronto Islands - Muggs Island ParkRavine / Naturalized Park25
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 TERRY FOX RECREATION CENTRE - Building Groundsmatters. 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.
- 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 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.