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Toronto Park Atlas
Long-form

Research

Long-form analyses that combine the model’s outputs with urban-design context. Each piece uses the same metrics that drive the rest of the site, with the numbers and the methodology spelled out so you can disagree with both.

case study

Why Trinity Bellwoods works

A neighbourhood park as Jane Jacobs would have liked it: dense mid-rise frontage, permeable streets, real shade despite a thin canopy polygon. What the metrics actually say.

essay

Toronto's ravine paradox

A third of the Toronto Park Catalogue is ravine green space. Most of it scores low on every Jacobs-style measure, and that may be the right answer.

essay

The hidden success of parkettes

Tiny, tightly-framed pocket parks routinely outscore much larger destinations on the model's terms. What that tells us about Toronto's mid-rise neighbourhoods.

A note on tone

These essays read parks through a quantitative lens, but they are not pretending to be the last word on any park. The model picks up things that map well to data; it misses what data doesn’t catch. The research pieces try to say what the data shows clearly, and to be honest about what it can’t.

For methodological details see the methodology page.