Bathurst - Wilson Parkette
Parkette, below average overall (score 28, rank ~21th percentile). Strongest: amenity diversity; weakest: natural comfort.
Aerial, City of Toronto orthophoto, ~8 cm/px source · cached 5/9/2026
Bathurst - Wilson Parkette 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.
Area · 0.47 ha
What's here
Weighted across six dimensions · confidence 66%
Scores are not bell-curved. Percentiles and expected scores provide context without changing the underlying model.
Loading map…
The parks map is loading.Boundary: OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).
Explain this score
Where did the 28 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
Bathurst - Wilson Parkette works because its amenity diversity score (33) is in the top tier and its connectivity (56) is also above-average.
What limits this park
Bathurst - Wilson Parkette is held back by natural comfort (23, bottom quartile): only 0% canopy means little summer shade; border-vacuum risk is also elevated (100).
Most distinctive characteristic
Most distinctive feature: exceptionally low natural comfort (23, bottom quartile).
Jacobs reading
Bathurst - Wilson Parkette sits between an urban social park and an ecological retreat: moderately useful for both, exceptionally suited to neither.
Tradeoffs
- Connectivity (56) significantly outpaces natural comfort (23): well placed in the city but offers little shade or ecological respite.
- The park is enclosed by buildings (65) 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 -9; cohort: small Parkette).
Typology classification
Classified as Parkette: small (4702 m²) with strong building frontage (3.7 per 100 m)
Edge Activation
Within 100 m of the park edge: 14 active uses (transit_stop, restaurant, retail) and 22 dead/hostile uses (highway, 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
Connectivity blends paths, intersections, transit, entrances, and edge density. This park has 0 mapped paths/walkways and 12 sidewalk segments within 50 m; 11 street intersections within 100 m; 16 transit stops within a 400 m walk; 0 estimated access points across ~352 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
4 distinct amenity types in the park (bench, garden, picnic, shelter). 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: 0.0% estimated tree canopy; nearest waterbody ~1205 m. Reading: exposed. Source coverage: waterbodies. 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
13 buildings within 25 m of the park edge (3 mid-rise, 10 low-rise, 0 tower); avg edge height 7.1 m (~2 floors); 3.7 buildings per 100 m of 352 m perimeter (strong frontage density); edges are low-rise (mostly 2 to 3 floors); no towers immediately adjacent. "Eyes on the park" come strongest from the 3 mid-rise edge buildings.
Source: Toronto 3D Massing (building footprints + heights)
Border Vacuum Risk
Border-vacuum factors within 50 m of the park: Highway 401 Collector, Highway 401 Collector, Highway 401 Express, Highway 401 Collector, parking_lot, Highway 401 Collector, parking_lot. Jacobs warned that highways, rail, parking lots and blank institutional edges act as "vacuums" that 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 (4 types · 13 records)
- bench
- garden
- picnic
- shelter
Nearby active-edge features (59)
- transit stop: Wilson Avenue at Bathurst Street East Side2 m
- transit stop: Bathurst Street at Wilson Avenue4 m
- highway: Highway 401 Collector13 m
- highway: Highway 401 Collector17 m
- transit stop: Bathurst Street at Wilson Avenue South Side23 m
- transit stop: Wilson Avenue at Bathurst Street27 m
- highway: Highway 401 Collector30 m
- highway: Highway 401 Express36 m
- highway: Highway 401 Collector41 m
- parking lot47 m
- parking lot47 m
- transit stop: Bathurst Street at Wilson Avenue53 m
- highway: Highway 401 Express53 m
- highway: Highway 401 Express55 m
- parking lot56 m
- highway: Highway 401 Express64 m
- transit stop: 270 Wilson Avenue (No Frills)69 m
- retail69 m
- highway: Highway 401 Collector72 m
- highway: Highway 401 Express73 m
- transit stop: Wilson Avenue at Bathurst Street West Side75 m
- highway: Highway 401 Collector75 m
- parking lot76 m
- retail: Xcash Money Solutions76 m
- retail: ComNCom81 m
- highway: Highway 401 Express84 m
- highway: Highway 401 Express84 m
- highway: Highway 401 Collector85 m
- parking lot87 m
- restaurant: SALU SALO FILIPINO FOOD & GROCERIES88 m
- restaurant: Atin Ito92 m
- parking lot93 m
- retail: Elevyn's Hair Salon & Nail Spa94 m
- highway: Highway 401 Collector94 m
- parking lot98 m
- restaurant: JollyTops99 m
- restaurant: Pizza Cafe103 m
- restaurant: Republika RestoBar and Grill106 m
- parking lot113 m
- highway: Highway 401 Express113 m
- transit stop: Bathurst Street at Southbourne Ave123 m
- highway: Highway 401 Collector124 m
- parking lot144 m
- restaurant: Popeyes146 m
- highway: Highway 401 Express147 m
- parking lot147 m
- highway: Highway 401 Collector149 m
- restaurant: Food Trip153 m
- parking lot153 m
- parking lot154 m
- cafe: Aroma Espresso Bar159 m
- retail: H&H Groceries Store160 m
- parking lot165 m
- restaurant: Top Silog166 m
- highway: Highway 401 Express167 m
- restaurant: Subway178 m
- highway: Highway 401 Collector188 m
- retail189 m
- highway: Highway 401 Collector196 m
Park profile
Five-axis radar across the structural dimensions.
Citywide percentile ranks
Across all Toronto parks in the dataset.
- Overall vitality21th
- Edge activation50th
- Connectivity69th
- Amenity diversity86th
- Natural comfort2th
- Enclosure62th
Most similar parks
Closest in metric space across the five structural dimensions.
- Centennial ParkNeighbourhood Park32
- Knights Of Columbus ParkParkette38
- Vrandenburgh ParkOther38
- MEADOWVALE PUBLIC SCHOOL - Building GroundsNeighbourhood Park36
- Ashtonbee Reservoir ParkOther35
Most opposite parks
Furthest in metric space. Useful for recognising what kind of park this isn’t.
- Mclevin Woods ParkRavine / Naturalized Park49
- Trca Lands ( 26)Ravine / Naturalized Park27
- Toronto ZooWaterfront Park67
- Kew GardensNeighbourhood Park75
- Market Lane ParkUrban Plaza67
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 Bathurst - Wilson Parkettematters. 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. Boundaries are reconciled against OpenStreetMap (ODbL) for new and updated parks.
- 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.