Detected urban patterns

Data updated 7 November 2026

Auto-detected groupings that don’t fall out of typology or cluster, but matter to the experience of using a park. Each pattern is defined by a small rule set on the metrics and tells you something the typology alone won’t.

Excellent enclosure, poor comfort

Tightly framed by mid-rise but exposed to heat: strong urban form, weak ecological function. Common in dense pre-war neighbourhoods where the original tree canopy was lost.

Park	Typology	Edge	Conn	Comfort	Encl	Overall
Belmont Parkette	Urban Plaza	9	57	34	98	41
Montclair Avenue Parkette	Urban Plaza	70	49	24	98	54
Joseph Tough Park	Urban Plaza	57	48	22	98	47
Parkview Gardens Parkette	Urban Plaza	0	44	26	98	28
Boswell Parkette	Urban Plaza	62	58	22	97	50
Glasgow Street Parkette	Urban Plaza	42	58	31	97	47
Jesse Ketchum Park	Urban Plaza	9	59	23	97	40
Honest Ed'S Park	Urban Plaza	31	48	31	97	45
Lillian H. Smith Park	Urban Plaza	63	43	32	97	48
Spadina Road Green	Urban Plaza	0	45	33	97	34
Spadina Road Green	Urban Plaza	17	25	24	97	33
Forest Hill Memorial Cenotaph	Civic Square	0	51	23	97	26

Highly connected but socially weak

Many streets and transit stops nearby, but the surrounding land use is hostile or quiet. Connectivity does not, on its own, make a park work as a public place.

Park	Typology	Conn	Comfort	Encl	Overall
High Park	Waterfront Park	89	75	89	53
Sorauren Avenue Park	Neighbourhood Park	81	53	93	52
Jean Sibelius Square	Civic Square	74	51	96	52
Dovercourt Park	Neighbourhood Park	70	57	79	52
Wychwood Barns Park	Neighbourhood Park	76	51	82	52
Joseph Bannon Park	Athletic / Recreation Park	77	63	95	51
Mccormick Park	Neighbourhood Park	82	54	76	50
Lee Lifeson Art Park	Parkette	72	68	76	50
Wadsworth Park	Neighbourhood Park	79	56	76	50
Dentonia Park	Neighbourhood Park	79	48	80	50
Goulding Park	Neighbourhood Park	77	46	67	49
Christie Pits Park	Ravine / Naturalized Park	86	61	80	49

Trapped by border vacuums

High Border-Vacuum Risk regardless of the park's other strengths: adjacent highways, rail, or institutional walls dominate the experience.

Park	Typology	Edge	Conn	Comfort	Encl	Overall
High Park	Waterfront Park	0	89	75	89	53
Christie Pits Park	Ravine / Naturalized Park	0	86	61	80	49
Earl Bales Park	Waterfront Park	0	77	79	67	48
East Lynn Park	Neighbourhood Park	32	69	56	72	47
Rennie Park	Waterfront Park	0	80	79	76	47
Earlscourt Park	Neighbourhood Park	0	82	58	74	46
Ramsden Park	Ravine / Naturalized Park	0	83	52	94	46
Snider Parkette	Urban Plaza	40	60	51	93	46
Tom Riley Park	Waterfront Park	0	82	56	72	45
David A. Balfour Park	Ravine / Naturalized Park	0	85	71	86	45
Cedarvale Park	Ravine / Naturalized Park	0	81	66	79	45
G. Ross Lord Park	Waterfront Park	0	78	75	63	45

Unexpectedly successful suburban parks

Suburban parks (low edge frontage typical of post-war street patterns) that still score well overall: design or programming pulling against the grain of the surrounding fabric.

Park	Typology	Edge	Conn	Comfort	Encl	Overall
Toronto Islands - Island Park	Waterfront Park	71	40	52	33	58
Toronto Islands - Centre Island Park	Waterfront Park	54	39	53	26	56

Overlooked high-performing parkettes

Tiny parks (under 0.5 ha) that punch well above their weight on enclosure and edge activation. Easy to dismiss on a map; central to neighbourhood life on the ground.

Park	Typology	Edge	Conn	Comfort	Encl	Overall
Market Lane Park	Urban Plaza	90	67	53	90	68
Maple Leaf Forever Park	Urban Plaza	81	71	37	83	66
Graham Park	Urban Plaza	80	68	38	81	65
Manor Community Green	Urban Plaza	88	44	51	84	64
Sonya'S Park	Urban Plaza	85	68	32	89	64
Grace - College Parkette	Corridor / Linear Park	80	70	38	91	64
Arena Gardens	Urban Plaza	75	73	44	74	63
Norman Jewison Park	Urban Plaza	76	80	33	80	62
Asquith Green Park	Urban Plaza	68	76	33	80	62
James Canning Gardens	Urban Plaza	68	75	37	81	62
Massey Harris Park	Urban Plaza	65	82	39	89	62
Liberty Village Park	Civic Square	59	76	42	74	61

Tower-shadow parks

High enclosure score driven by tower walls rather than mid-rise frontage: passive surveillance is plentiful, but human-scale comfort suffers (wind, shadow, sterile ground floors).

Park	Typology	Edge	Conn	Comfort	Encl	Overall
Belmont Parkette	Urban Plaza	9	57	34	98	41
Boswell Parkette	Urban Plaza	62	58	22	97	50
Glasgow Street Parkette	Urban Plaza	42	58	31	97	47
Jesse Ketchum Park	Urban Plaza	9	59	23	97	40
Forest Hill Memorial Cenotaph	Civic Square	0	51	23	97	26
1365 Yonge	Urban Plaza	0	57	25	96	25
Bleecker Parkette	Urban Plaza	0	54	35	96	36
Gwendolyn Macewen Parkette	Urban Plaza	0	67	32	96	42
Mccaul - Orde Parkette	Urban Plaza	0	68	33	96	39
Huron Street Playground	Urban Plaza	0	60	33	95	37
Avonshire Parkette	Urban Plaza	0	59	35	95	39
City Wide Open Space	Urban Plaza	49	59	25	95	49

Ravine-edge disconnect

Ravine and naturalised parks scoring high on natural comfort while their edges are functionally sealed off from the city, so the ecological asset isn't reaching the people who live nearby.

Park	Typology	Conn	Comfort	Encl	Overall
City Wide Open Space	Ravine / Naturalized Park	18	92	57	33
Home Smith Park	Ravine / Naturalized Park	39	91	62	37
Highland Creek Tributary	Ravine / Naturalized Park	11	91	58	32
Trca Lands ( 60)	Ravine / Naturalized Park	27	91	59	35
Highland Creek Tributary	Ravine / Naturalized Park	25	91	68	35
Lower Don Parklands	Ravine / Naturalized Park	9	91	50	30
Rouge Park	Ravine / Naturalized Park	9	91	50	27
City Wide Open Space	Ravine / Naturalized Park	38	91	88	40
Moccasin Trail Park	Ravine / Naturalized Park	34	91	74	38
Trca Lands ( 70)	Ravine / Naturalized Park	31	91	66	35
City Wide Open Space	Ravine / Naturalized Park	31	91	78	34
City Wide Open Space	Ravine / Naturalized Park	31	91	78	34

Why these patterns?

Each pattern picks at a tension the headline score papers over. A park can be high-scoring and still be a tower-shadow plaza, a heat sink, or a ravine that nobody can reach.

The patterns are deliberately small and rule-based. If you disagree with a threshold, the relevant code lives in src/lib/insights.ts in the urbanPatterns()function. Change the numbers, rebuild the cache, and the page updates.