Betty Sutherland Trail Park
Waterfront Park, middle of the pack overall (score 36, rank ~58th percentile). Strongest: amenity diversity; weakest: enclosure.
Aerial, City of Toronto orthophoto, ~8 cm/px source · cached 5/9/2026
Betty Sutherland Trail Park scores 36.3 / 100. Strongest dimensions: connectivity and natural comfort. 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 · 50.15 ha
What's here
Weighted across six dimensions · confidence 72%
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 36 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
Betty Sutherland Trail Park works because its amenity diversity score (39) is in the top tier and its connectivity (69) is also top decile.
What limits this park
Betty Sutherland Trail Park is held back by enclosure (48, bottom quartile); border-vacuum risk is also elevated (100).
Most distinctive characteristic
Most distinctive feature: exceptionally high amenity diversity (39, top decile).
Jacobs reading
Betty Sutherland Trail Park is currently underperforming on both axes: neither integrated into the city nor offering deep natural respite. A candidate for design intervention.
Tradeoffs
- High connectivity coexists with high border-vacuum risk (100): much of that connectivity is to highways, rail, or parking lots, not to neighbourhoods.
Typology classification
Classified as Waterfront Park: 5% water surface inside park. Secondary read: Ravine / Naturalized Park (94% ravine overlap, 22% canopy).
Edge Activation
Within 100 m of the park edge: 22 active uses (transit_stop, restaurant) and 37 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 5 mapped paths/walkways and 70 sidewalk segments within 50 m; 17 street intersections within 100 m; 43 transit stops within a 400 m walk; 8 estimated access points across ~5,020 m of perimeter. low edge density, significant superblock penalty applied. Source coverage: centreline, pedestrian_network, transit_osm.
Source: Toronto Centreline V2 + Pedestrian Network + OSM transit stops
Amenity Diversity
5 distinct amenity types in the park (bench, picnic, sports_field, track, volleyball). 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: 22.2% estimated tree canopy; 94.2% inside the ravine system; 5.2% water surface; 61 city-mapped trees inside the polygon (1.2/ha). Reading: ravine-cooled. Source coverage: treed_area, ravine, 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
44 buildings within 25 m of the park edge (14 mid-rise, 24 low-rise, 6 tower); avg edge height 16.3 m (~5 floors); 0.9 buildings per 100 m of 5,020 m perimeter (thin frontage with significant blank-edge share); edges are at a Jacobs-scale walkable mid-rise (3 to 7 floors); 6 towers ≥ 40 m within 25 m of the edge. "Eyes on the park" come strongest from the 14 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, parking_lot, parking_lot, Highway 401 Collector, Highway 401 Collector, Highway 401 Collector, parking_lot, parking_lot, parking_lot, parking_lot, parking_lot, parking_lot, parking_lot, parking_lot, parking_lot, Highway 401 Collector, parking_lot, parking_lot, parking_lot, parking_lot, Highway 401 Collector. 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 (5 types · 7 records)
- bench
- picnic
- sports field
- track
- volleyball
Nearby active-edge features (80)
- transit stop: Moatfield Drive0 m
- parking lot1 m
- transit stop: Duncan Mill Rd at Don Mills Road west side stop1 m
- transit stop: Duncan Mill Road2 m
- transit stop: York Mills Road6 m
- parking lot7 m
- parking lot10 m
- parking lot10 m
- parking lot16 m
- parking lot18 m
- parking lot22 m
- restaurant: Gilaneh23 m
- parking lot26 m
- parking lot26 m
- highway: Highway 401 Collector27 m
- transit stop: Duncan Mill Rd at Don Mills Road west side stop28 m
- transit stop: Graydon Hall Drive33 m
- parking lot35 m
- parking lot36 m
- parking lot36 m
- highway: Highway 401 Collector37 m
- parking lot38 m
- highway: Highway 401 Collector40 m
- parking lot40 m
- transit stop: Moatfield Drive41 m
- transit stop: Don Mills Road41 m
- transit stop: Graydon Hall Place42 m
- highway: Highway 401 Collector42 m
- transit stop: Leslie St at Lesmill Rd43 m
- highway: Highway 401 Collector44 m
- highway: Highway 401 Collector45 m
- parking lot49 m
- transit stop: York Mills Road53 m
- parking lot55 m
- transit stop: Duncan Mill Rd at Don Mills Road east side stop56 m
- parking lot56 m
- transit stop: Don Mills Road57 m
- highway: Highway 401 Express61 m
- parking lot62 m
- highway: Highway 401 Express63 m
- highway: Highway 401 Express63 m
- parking lot65 m
- parking lot71 m
- transit stop: Leslie St at Lesmill Rd71 m
- restaurant: Darband74 m
- parking lot74 m
- highway: Highway 401 Express80 m
- highway: Highway 401 Express80 m
- highway: Highway 401 Express81 m
- transit stop: 2040 Don Mills Road84 m
- transit stop: Duncan Mill Rd at Valleybrook Dr85 m
- parking lot85 m
- transit stop: Duncan Mill Rd at Valleybrook Dr86 m
- restaurant: Pizza Nova93 m
- highway: Highway 401 Collector98 m
- restaurant: Casa Manila99 m
- highway: Highway 401 Collector99 m
- restaurant: Subway99 m
- highway: Highway 401 Collector100 m
- parking lot102 m
- parking lot103 m
- highway: Highway 401 Collector103 m
- transit stop104 m
- parking lot107 m
- retail: ICS Computer111 m
- parking lot114 m
- parking lot116 m
- parking lot117 m
- highway: Highway 401 Collector120 m
- retail: Print Three122 m
- transit stop126 m
- parking lot127 m
- parking lot127 m
- highway: Highway 401 Collector129 m
- restaurant: Popeyes134 m
- parking lot136 m
- rail: GO Transit - Bala Subdivision138 m
- transit stop: 900 York Mills Road138 m
- parking lot138 m
- parking lot139 m
Park profile
Five-axis radar across the structural dimensions.
Citywide percentile ranks
Across all Toronto parks in the dataset.
- Overall vitality58th
- Edge activation36th
- Connectivity90th
- Amenity diversity91th
- Natural comfort83th
- Enclosure11th
Most similar parks
Closest in metric space across the five structural dimensions.
- Charles Sauriol Conservation AreaWaterfront Park38
- Wilket Creek ParkWaterfront Park35
- Linkwood Lane ParkCorridor / Linear Park42
- Masseygrove ParkRavine / Naturalized Park42
- Rowntree Mills ParkWaterfront Park42
Most opposite parks
Furthest in metric space. Useful for recognising what kind of park this isn’t.
- Arnell PlazaCivic Square50
- ALEX WILSON COMMUNITY GARDEN - Open Green SpaceUrban Plaza59
- Bernard Avenue Road AllowanceUrban Plaza57
- Queen'S Quay Traffic IslandWaterfront Park49
- Ryerson Community ParkUrban Plaza62
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 Betty Sutherland Trail Parkmatters. 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.
- Encourage mid-rise, windowed frontages around the park so residents have direct sightlines onto it.
- 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.