Urban Plazacluster ·Walkable Mid-Rise Neighbourhood Parks (enclosure-leaning)South Parkdale (85)confidence moderatereal Toronto data

PARKDALE HEALTH CENTRE - Building Grounds

Urban Plaza, middle of the pack overall (score 33, rank ~47th percentile). Strongest: enclosure; weakest: natural comfort.

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

PARKDALE HEALTH CENTRE - Building Grounds scores 33.3 / 100. Strongest dimensions: enclosure / eyes on park and connectivity. 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.

Best for:daily passing-throughpocket meetings

Area · 0.23 ha

Vitality Score

33/100

Weighted across six dimensions · confidence 57%

Data Confidence

33.3 / 100

Citywide

46th

of all 3,273 parks

Among Urban Plaza

30th

same primary typology

Expected for similar parks

median in pocket Urban Plaza (n=337)

Performance gap

-3

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 33 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 · p38

-12.5

Amenity Diversity0 · p45

-10.0

Enclosure / Eyes on Park80 · p83

+3.0

Border Vacuum Risk24 (risk)

+2.6

Connectivity59 · p72

+1.8

Natural Comfort40 · p37

-1.5

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

PARKDALE HEALTH CENTRE - Building Grounds works because its enclosure score (80) is above average and its connectivity (59) is also above-average (5 mid-rise buildings frame the edge with passive surveillance).

What limits this park

Most distinctive characteristic

Most distinctive feature: exceptionally high enclosure (80, top quartile).

Jacobs reading

PARKDALE HEALTH CENTRE - Building Grounds 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 (80) but the surrounding streets are quiet (edge activation 0) — frame without animation.

Typology classification

confidence 70%

Urban Plaza

Classified as Urban Plaza: 2304 m², paved (0% canopy), 22.4 buildings/100 m

Edge Activation

25% weightpartial 60%

0.0 / 100

Within 100 m of the park edge: 24 active uses (retail, restaurant, transit_stop, cafe) and 13 dead/hostile uses (parking_lot, rail). 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%

58.9 / 100

Connectivity blends paths, intersections, transit, entrances, and edge density. This park has 0 mapped paths/walkways and 15 sidewalk segments within 50 m; 11 street intersections within 100 m; 24 transit stops within a 400 m walk; 0 estimated access points across ~201 m of perimeter. edge density is healthy — no superblock penalty. Source coverage: centreline, pedestrian_network, transit_osm.

Streets within 25 m9

Intersections within 100 m11

Paths/walkways (50 m)0

Sidewalk segments (50 m)15

Transit stops (400 m)24

Estimated entrances0

Edge connections / 100 m perimeter4.48

Park perimeter201 m

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

Amenity Diversity

20% weightinferred 30%

0.0 / 100

No amenities recorded — score is 0 until inventory is loaded.

Source: Toronto Parks & Recreation Facilities + OSM amenity tags

Natural Comfort

15% weightinferred 36%

40.0 / 100

Natural-comfort components for this park: ~7.0% effective canopy (0.0% from contiguous tree polygons + scattered tree density); nearest waterbody ~1185 m; 10 city-mapped trees inside the polygon (10.0/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)1,185 m

Estimated green100.0%

City-mapped trees inside polygon10

Tree density10.0 / ha

Cover diversity (Shannon, 0–100)0.0

Sample points used17

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

Enclosure / Eyes on Park

10% weightmeasured 80%

79.5 / 100

45 buildings within 25 m of the park edge (5 mid-rise, 40 low-rise, 0 tower); avg edge height 7.0 m (~2 floors); 22.4 buildings per 100 m of 201 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 m45

Buildings within 50 m45

Avg edge height7.0 m (~2 floors)

Tallest edge building24.9 m

Mid-rise (3–7 floors)5

Low-rise (< 3 floors)40

Towers (≥ 13 floors)0

Frontage density22.41 per 100 m perimeter

Mid-rise share of edge11%

Tower share of edge0%

Blank-edge share (proxy)0%

Park perimeter201 m

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

Border Vacuum Risk

10% weightpartial 60%

24.0 risk

Border-vacuum factors within 50 m of the park: 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 (0)

No amenities recorded for this park.

Nearby active-edge features (79)

parking lot0 m
retail — Parkdale Barbers13 m
cafe — Bom Dia22 m
retail — Clover Flora23 m
restaurant — Alexander Falafel23 m
retail — Barton Floor Coverings24 m
cafe — Rustic Cosmo Cafe24 m
restaurant — Motel Bar28 m
restaurant — Matt's Burger Lab28 m
transit stop — Dufferin Street30 m
restaurant — Danu32 m
retail — Queen & Dufferin Convenience33 m
cafe — My Tea Bar35 m
retail — Kim Nails & Spa35 m
retail — Public Butter39 m
retail — House of Vintage41 m
transit stop — Queen Street West47 m
parking lot48 m
restaurant — Rhino58 m
transit stop — Queen Street West58 m
parking lot60 m
rail — Galt Subdivision65 m
transit stop — Dufferin Street67 m
rail — Weston Subdivision71 m
parking lot71 m
rail — Weston Subdivision77 m
restaurant — Tilt Arcade Bar77 m
parking lot79 m
rail — Weston Subdivision82 m
rail — Weston Subdivision84 m
retail — Vegan Danish Bakery87 m
restaurant — Guu Izakaya91 m
parking lot97 m
restaurant — Armonia Pasta Bar97 m
parking lot98 m
rail — Weston Subdivision99 m
restaurant — Molkagtez Mexican Cuisine100 m
retail — Smoke N Fire101 m
restaurant — Mary Brown's105 m
restaurant — Nuna105 m
parking lot111 m
cafe — Chloe Cafe112 m
rail — Weston Subdivision117 m
rail — Weston Subdivision118 m
retail — Lynn's Convenience122 m
rail — Weston Subdivision123 m
retail — Dang Jewellery & Watches126 m
cafe — Starbucks129 m
retail — The Wine Shop130 m
restaurant — Kaminari131 m
restaurant — Craig's Cookies135 m
transit stop — Dufferin St at Melbourne Ave138 m
retail — Gas City140 m
retail — Dollarama142 m
parking lot144 m
retail — Metro145 m
retail — Lola145 m
parking lot146 m
retail — Matchbox Tattoo148 m
retail — Made You Look Jewellery150 m
retail154 m
rail — Weston Subdivision156 m
retail — Paper Plus Cloth158 m
transit stop — Sudbury Street163 m
community — Creating Together EarlyON Child and Family Centre164 m
restaurant — Lao Thai167 m
retail — Fetchy169 m
retail — Budget One Stop170 m
restaurant — Island Foods174 m
restaurant — Hanoi Restaurant176 m
retail — The UPS Store176 m
transit stop — Brock Avenue176 m
retail — Canada MedLaser180 m
retail — Mississaugas of the Credit Medicine Wheel185 m
cafe — Highly Likely190 m
transit stop — Gladstone Avenue192 m
retail — De Mart197 m
restaurant — Mercato197 m
restaurant — BB's200 m

Park profile

Five-axis radar across the structural dimensions.

Citywide percentile ranks

Across all Toronto parks in the dataset.

Overall vitality
47th
Edge activation
38th
Connectivity
72th
Amenity diversity
45th
Natural comfort
37th
Enclosure
83th

Most similar parks

Closest in metric space across the five structural dimensions.

Doris - Norton ParkTower-Community Green Space36
Kildonan ParkUrban Plaza35
George Ben ParkParkette36
North York Hydro Green SpaceNeighbourhood Park33
Joel Swirsky ParketteUrban Plaza37

Most opposite parks

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

Kew GardensNeighbourhood Park71
Leslie Grove ParkParkette68
Trca Lands ( 26)Ravine / Naturalized Park27
Mclevin Woods ParkRavine / Naturalized Park49
Toronto Islands - Island ParkWaterfront Park52

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 PARKDALE HEALTH 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.

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.