Carlaw Avenue Parkette
Parkette, one of the city's strongest overall (score 53, rank ~96th percentile). Strongest: enclosure; weakest: edge activation.
Aerial, City of Toronto orthophoto, ~8 cm/px source · cached 5/9/2026
Carlaw Avenue Parkette scores 52.8 / 100. Strongest dimensions: enclosure / eyes on park and natural comfort. Weakest: edge activation (23.8). Border-vacuum risk is low. This score is a transparent reading of Jane Jacobs-style vitality factors, not a definitive judgment.
Area · 0.13 ha
What's here
Weighted across six dimensions · confidence 70%
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 53 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
Carlaw Avenue Parkette works because its enclosure score (96) is one of the city's strongest and its natural comfort (76) is also top quartile (23 mid-rise buildings frame the edge with passive surveillance).
What limits this park
.
Most distinctive characteristic
Most distinctive feature: exceptionally high enclosure (96, top decile).
Jacobs reading
Carlaw Avenue Parkette 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 (96) but the surrounding streets are quiet (edge activation 24): frame without animation.
Performance in context
- This park is a strong overperformer for its cohort: raw 53 versus an expected 31 for similar parks (pocket Parkette) (gap +22).
Typology classification
Classified as Parkette: small (1321 m²) with strong building frontage (54.5 per 100 m)
Edge Activation
Within 100 m of the park edge: 43 active uses (retail, restaurant, transit_stop, cafe) and 8 dead/hostile uses (parking_lot, highway). 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 2 mapped paths/walkways and 9 sidewalk segments within 50 m; 12 street intersections within 100 m; 20 transit stops within a 400 m walk; 2 estimated access points across ~213 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
3 distinct amenity types in the park (playground, bench, garden). 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: 60.0% estimated tree canopy; nearest waterbody ~1108 m; 7 city-mapped trees inside the polygon (7.0/ha). Reading: well-shaded. Source coverage: treed_area, 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
116 buildings within 25 m of the park edge (23 mid-rise, 90 low-rise, 3 tower); avg edge height 10.1 m (~3 floors); 54.5 buildings per 100 m of 213 m perimeter (strong frontage density); edges are at a Jacobs-scale walkable mid-rise (3 to 7 floors); 3 towers ≥ 40 m within 25 m of the edge. "Eyes on the park" come strongest from the 23 mid-rise edge buildings.
Source: Toronto 3D Massing (building footprints + heights)
Border Vacuum 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" 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 (3 types · 7 records)
- playground
- bench
- garden
Nearby active-edge features (80)
- parking lot32 m
- cafe: Canela46 m
- parking lot48 m
- restaurant: Village Juicery60 m
- retail: Aionios Med Spa60 m
- cafe: Starbucks60 m
- retail: Kostatex60 m
- restaurant: Smoke's Poutinerie60 m
- restaurant: Bagel Time60 m
- retail: 21C Beauty Bar60 m
- restaurant: Simone's60 m
- restaurant: Rivals Sports Pub61 m
- retail: Healthy Planet61 m
- restaurant: Katsu Sushi61 m
- retail: Nimoosh61 m
- restaurant: Il Fornello62 m
- transit stop: Carlaw Avenue68 m
- restaurant: Pizzeria Libretto68 m
- retail: Re-Reading71 m
- parking lot74 m
- retail: Moss75 m
- highway: Danforth Avenue76 m
- highway: Danforth Avenue77 m
- highway: Danforth Avenue77 m
- retail: iQLiving79 m
- highway: Danforth Avenue80 m
- cafe: 6Thirty Coffee and Co.82 m
- retail: Strictly Bulk86 m
- transit stop: Carlaw Avenue88 m
- retail: GSM Cellphones90 m
- retail: Little Bird Salon90 m
- retail: The Friendly Vapor93 m
- restaurant: Taco Bell94 m
- restaurant: The Ballyhoo Public House94 m
- retail: Kitchen Stuff Plus94 m
- retail: Treasure Island Toys94 m
- retail: Maxi94 m
- restaurant: Swiss Chalet95 m
- restaurant: Tapp’s Restaurant & Bar95 m
- retail: Carpe Diem95 m
- retail: Ocean's Treasures95 m
- retail: Sweet Addictions95 m
- highway: Danforth Avenue95 m
- retail: RE/MAX96 m
- retail: New Balance96 m
- retail: Pricewar96 m
- retail: Foodland97 m
- cafe: Monopol Cafe99 m
- restaurant: Souv Like99 m
- restaurant: Sinaloa Factory99 m
- retail: Eighth Cannabis99 m
- restaurant: Ramen Buta-Nibo100 m
- transit stop: Lipton Avenue101 m
- retail: Volume Hair Salon102 m
- retail: Cellphone & Tech Hub103 m
- restaurant: Yalla Paramount105 m
- parking lot109 m
- restaurant: The Fox & Fiddle111 m
- retail: Popeye's Supplements116 m
- transit stop: Pape Ave at Danforth Ave118 m
- transit stop118 m
- transit stop: Pape Avenue120 m
- retail: Good Brothers Fruits Market120 m
- highway: Danforth Avenue120 m
- retail: Sophia's Lingerie & Swimwear120 m
- cafe: Tim Hortons121 m
- restaurant: Tacos Moras124 m
- highway: Danforth Avenue126 m
- restaurant: Kervan Kebab127 m
- cafe: 521 Cafe & Bar128 m
- transit stop: Pape Avenue132 m
- retail: Lucky Spot134 m
- restaurant: A&W136 m
- restaurant: Casa Manila138 m
- transit stop: Pape Avenue139 m
- highway: Danforth Avenue140 m
- transit stop: Pape146 m
- transit stop: Pape146 m
- restaurant: Estiatorio Soulas146 m
- transit stop: Pape Ave at Danforth Ave146 m
Park profile
Five-axis radar across the structural dimensions.
Citywide percentile ranks
Across all Toronto parks in the dataset.
- Overall vitality96th
- Edge activation79th
- Connectivity82th
- Amenity diversity82th
- Natural comfort89th
- Enclosure99th
Most similar parks
Closest in metric space across the five structural dimensions.
- Suydam ParkRavine / Naturalized Park57
- Beecroft Linear ParkCorridor / Linear Park55
- Loring - Wyle ParketteParkette50
- Ravina GardensRavine / Naturalized Park50
- Chorley ParkRavine / Naturalized Park55
Most opposite parks
Furthest in metric space. Useful for recognising what kind of park this isn’t.
- Rouge ParkRavine / Naturalized Park18
- Trca Lands ( 58)Waterfront Park18
- Rouge ParkRavine / Naturalized Park21
- City Wide Open SpaceWaterfront Park21
- Rouge ParkRavine / Naturalized Park19
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 Carlaw Avenue 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.
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.