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Ravine / Naturalized ParkType:Walkable Mid-Rise Neighbourhood Park (enclosure-leaning)Oakridge

Cataraqui Park

Ravine / Naturalized Park, in the top tier overall (score 49, rank ~92th percentile). Strongest: edge activation; weakest: connectivity.

Cataraqui Park scores 48.7 / 100. Strongest dimensions: enclosure / eyes on park and natural comfort. Weakest: amenity diversity (28.4). Border-vacuum risk is low. This score is a transparent reading of Jane Jacobs-style vitality factors, not a definitive judgment.

Best forescape into nature

Area · 3.37 ha

What's here

Recreation
PlaygroundSports fieldRunning track

Getting around

Paths

260 m of mapped path, 100% paved.

No steps mapped on the path network.

Seating

No seating mapped in OpenStreetMap.

Arrival

Nearest parking 120 m away. None of the 1 nearby lot records whether it has accessible spaces.

Path, seating and parking data comes from OpenStreetMap and reflects what volunteers have mapped, not a survey. Absence here means nobody has recorded it. This section does not assess wheelchair access: the relevant OpenStreetMap tag is present on well under 1% of Toronto paths.

Vitality Score
49/100

Weighted across six dimensions · confidence 72%

Data Confidence
48.7 / 100

Data confidence: moderate

Citywide
92nd
of all 3,788 parks
Among Ravine / Naturalized Park
95th
same primary typology
Expected for similar parks
36
median in medium Ravine / Naturalized Park ravine (n=235)
Performance gap
+12
raw − expected · context confidence high
strong overperformer

Scores are not bell-curved. Percentiles and expected scores provide context without changing the underlying model.

Loading map…

The parks map is loading.
Street context. Park polygon highlighted on the citywide map.

Boundary: OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).

Explain this score

Where did the 49 come from? Each weighted contribution against a neutral 50 baseline. Green = pushed up; red = pulled down.

Download JSON
What pushed this score up or down vs a neutral 50weight × score
Border Vacuum Risk0 (risk)
+5.0
Amenity Diversity28 · p83
-4.3
Connectivity37 · p36
-2.6
Edge Activation40 · p93
-2.5
Natural Comfort61 · p78
+1.6
Enclosure / Eyes on Park65 · p60
+1.5

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

Cataraqui Park works because its edge activation score (40) is in the top tier and its amenity diversity (28) is also top quartile.

What limits this park

Cataraqui Park doesn't have a clear weakness. Every measured dimension is at or above the middle of the pack.

Most distinctive characteristic

Most distinctive feature: exceptionally high edge activation (40, top decile).

Jacobs reading

Cataraqui Park sits between an urban social park and an ecological retreat: moderately useful for both, exceptionally suited to neither.

Performance in context

  • This park is a strong overperformer for its cohort: raw 49 versus an expected 36 for similar parks (medium Ravine / Naturalized Park ravine) (gap +12).

Typology classification

confidence 75%
Ravine / Naturalized Parkalso reads as Athletic / Recreation Park

Classified as Ravine / Naturalized Park: 48% ravine overlap, 8% canopy. Secondary read: Athletic / Recreation Park (67% of amenity types are athletic (sports_field, track)).

Edge Activation

25% weightpartial 60%
40.0 / 100

Within 100 m of the park edge: 4 active uses (transit_stop) and 0 dead/hostile uses (none). 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

20% weightmeasured 85%
37.0 / 100

Connectivity blends paths, intersections, transit, entrances, and edge density. This park has 0 mapped paths/walkways and 5 sidewalk segments within 50 m; 4 street intersections within 100 m; 12 transit stops within a 400 m walk; 0 estimated access points across ~928 m of perimeter. low edge density, significant superblock penalty applied. Source coverage: centreline, pedestrian_network, transit_osm.

Streets within 25 m3
Intersections within 100 m4
Paths/walkways (50 m)0
Sidewalk segments (50 m)5
Transit stops (400 m)12
Estimated entrances0
Edge connections / 100 m perimeter0.32
Park perimeter928 m

Source: Toronto Centreline V2 + Pedestrian Network + OSM transit stops

Amenity Diversity

20% weightmeasured 75%
28.4 / 100

3 distinct amenity types in the park (playground, sports_field, track). 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

15% weightmeasured 75%
60.9 / 100

Natural-comfort components for this park: 8.0% estimated tree canopy; 48.1% inside the ravine system; nearest waterbody ~234 m. Reading: ravine-cooled. Source coverage: treed_area, ravine, waterbodies. Impervious surface is approximated (Toronto's authoritative layer ships only as a raster GeoTIFF).

Canopy coverage8.0%
Canopy area0.27 ha
Inside ravine system48.1%
Water surface inside park0.0%
Nearest water (if outside park)234 m
Estimated green100.0%
City-mapped trees inside polygon0
Tree density0.0 / ha
Cover diversity (Shannon, 0 to 100)83.4
Sample points used237

Source: Toronto Treed Area + Ravine + Waterbodies + Street Tree Inventory

Enclosure / Eyes on Park

10% weightmeasured 80%
64.7 / 100

29 buildings within 25 m of the park edge (6 mid-rise, 23 low-rise, 0 tower); avg edge height 7.8 m (~3 floors); 3.1 buildings per 100 m of 928 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 6 mid-rise edge buildings.

Buildings within 25 m29
Buildings within 50 m29
Avg edge height7.8 m (~3 floors)
Tallest edge building13.1 m
Mid-rise (3 to 7 floors)6
Low-rise (< 3 floors)23
Towers (≥ 13 floors)0
Frontage density3.13 per 100 m perimeter
Mid-rise share of edge21%
Tower share of edge0%
Blank-edge share (proxy)0%
Park perimeter928 m

Source: Toronto 3D Massing (building footprints + heights)

Border Vacuum Risk

10% weightpartial 60%
0.0 risk

Park edges face the city. No significant border vacuum detected.

Source: Toronto Street Centreline (highways) + rail layer + OSM landuse + building footprints

Equity Context

contextinferred 15%
50.0 / 100

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 · 5 records)

  • playground
  • sports field
  • track

Nearby active-edge features (5)

  • transit stop: Cataraqui Crescent48 m
  • transit stop: Burn Hill Road56 m
  • transit stop: Cataraqui Crescent65 m
  • transit stop91 m
  • parking lot120 m

Park profile

Five-axis radar across the structural dimensions.

Edge ActivationConnectivityAmenity DiversityNatural ComfortEnclosureCataraqui Park
Edge activation, connectivity, amenity diversity, natural comfort, and enclosure, each 0 to 100.

Citywide percentile ranks

Across all Toronto parks in the dataset.

  • Overall vitality
    92th
  • Edge activation
    93th
  • Connectivity
    36th
  • Amenity diversity
    83th
  • Natural comfort
    78th
  • Enclosure
    60th

Most similar parks

Closest in metric space across the five structural dimensions.

Most opposite parks

Furthest in metric space. Useful for recognising what kind of park this isn’t.

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 Cataraqui Park matters. 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.

Rate this park on as many dimensions as you have an opinion about. 1 = not at all, 5 = strongly. Skip the ones you don't feel sure about. Aggregated only, no comments stored at the row level.

feels socially active
feels comfortable
feels safe
feels connected
feels welcoming
feels ecological / natural
feels good for lingering
feels family-friendly
feels culturally important
70%

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.
  • Add or open more entrances and improve sidewalk continuity around the park. More permeability means more spontaneous use.
  • Diversify what people can do in the park (playground, washroom, water, shade, performance, sport, garden): even small additions raise this score.

Data sources

real Toronto data
  • 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 Facilities
    Inventory of in-park amenities (washrooms, fields, rinks…).
  • Toronto Pedestrian Network
    Sidewalk segments around and through parks; estimated park entrances.
  • Toronto Centreline V2
    Street segments + intersection nodes near park edges; trails and walkways.
  • Toronto 3D Massing
    Building footprints + heights for edge-building counts, frontage density, and tower-in-the-park risk.
  • Toronto Treed Area
    Tree canopy share inside park polygons via stratified-grid sampling.
  • Toronto Waterbodies & Rivers
    Water surface inside parks + nearest-water distance for cooling.
  • Ravine & Natural Feature Protection
    Ravine overlap as a cooling / natural-comfort signal.
  • Toronto Street Tree Inventory
    Tree count + density inside park polygons.
  • Neighbourhood Profiles
    (Pending) Equity context proxy.
  • OpenStreetMap (Overpass API)
    Cafés, restaurants, retail, transit stops, parking, highways, rail.