Cedar Brook Park
Waterfront Park, middle of the pack overall (score 39, rank ~68th percentile). Strongest: connectivity; weakest: edge activation.
Aerial, City of Toronto orthophoto, ~8 cm/px source · cached 5/9/2026
Cedar Brook Park scores 38.8 / 100. Strongest dimensions: connectivity and enclosure / eyes on park. 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 · 16.67 ha
What's here
Getting around
2.1 km of mapped path, 100% paved.
6 flights of steps on the mapped network.
Not enough mapped seating to assess (7 benches mapped).
Parking inside the park. None of the 8 nearby lots 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.
Weighted across six dimensions · confidence 72%
Data confidence: moderate
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 39 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
Cedar Brook Park works because its connectivity score (76) is one of the city's strongest and its amenity diversity (49) is also top decile (20 transit stops sit within a 400 m walk; 21 intersections fall within 100 m of the edge).
What limits this park
Cedar Brook Park is held back by edge activation (0, bottom quartile): the surrounding streets carry too few active uses to spill into the park; border-vacuum risk is also elevated (100).
Most distinctive characteristic
Most distinctive feature: exceptionally high connectivity (76, top decile).
Jacobs reading
Cedar Brook Park 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 (60) but the surrounding streets are quiet (edge activation 0): frame without animation.
- 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: 7% water surface inside park. Secondary read: Ravine / Naturalized Park (100% ravine overlap, 6% canopy).
Edge Activation
Within 100 m of the park edge: 3 active uses (transit_stop, community) and 8 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 25 mapped paths/walkways and 64 sidewalk segments within 50 m; 21 street intersections within 100 m; 20 transit stops within a 400 m walk; 17 estimated access points across ~2,784 m of perimeter. moderate edge density, small superblock penalty applied. Source coverage: centreline, pedestrian_network, transit_osm.
Source: Toronto Centreline V2 + Pedestrian Network + OSM transit stops
Amenity Diversity
8 distinct amenity types in the park (community_centre, fitness, playground, bbq, bench, picnic, …). 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: 5.9% estimated tree canopy; 100.0% inside the ravine system; 7.0% water surface; 68 city-mapped trees inside the polygon (4.1/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
229 buildings within 25 m of the park edge (4 mid-rise, 225 low-rise, 0 tower); avg edge height 5.0 m (~2 floors); 8.2 buildings per 100 m of 2,784 m perimeter (strong frontage density); edges are barely there or single-storey; no towers immediately adjacent. "Eyes on the park" come strongest from the 4 mid-rise edge buildings.
Source: Toronto 3D Massing (building footprints + heights)
Border Vacuum Risk
Border-vacuum factors within 50 m of the park: Markham Road, Markham Road, parking_lot, Markham Road. 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 (8 types · 19 records)
- community centre
- fitness
- playground
- bbq
- bench
- picnic
- shelter
- washroom
Nearby active-edge features (59)
- transit stop: Burnview Crescent0 m
- community: Cedarbrook Park Community Recreation Centre0 m
- parking lot0 m
- highway: Markham Road8 m
- highway: Markham Road9 m
- highway: Markham Road10 m
- transit stop: Burnview Crescent21 m
- parking lot55 m
- parking lot61 m
- parking lot80 m
- highway: Markham Road87 m
- transit stop: Markham Road at Eastpark Boulevard112 m
- transit stop: Bellamy Rd N at Banmoor Boulevard123 m
- highway: Markham Road134 m
- transit stop: Bellamy Rd N at Cedar Brae Boulevard137 m
- restaurant: McDonald's140 m
- restaurant: Taco Bell144 m
- restaurant: KFC145 m
- transit stop: Markham Road at Stevenwood Road North Side145 m
- transit stop: Eastpark Boulevard151 m
- parking lot160 m
- restaurant: Asian Gourmet160 m
- transit stop: Eastpark Boulevard161 m
- retail: Frugo161 m
- cafe: Tim Hortons162 m
- highway: Markham Road163 m
- retail: Chantele165 m
- retail: Shoe Corner165 m
- retail: John Pomer Menswear166 m
- retail: Hair Biz166 m
- retail: J’Adore167 m
- parking lot168 m
- retail: The Source169 m
- retail: Bentley170 m
- retail: Suzy Shier172 m
- retail: Cellular Point173 m
- retail: Tickets N' Things173 m
- retail: Casual Plus176 m
- retail: Young Connections177 m
- retail: Glamour One177 m
- retail: Giving & Living178 m
- retail: Ardene179 m
- cafe: Real Fruit Bubble Tea179 m
- retail: U Cool179 m
- retail: Elegant Factory Direct Jewellers179 m
- retail: Koodo180 m
- parking lot182 m
- retail: Famous Optical182 m
- retail: Phone Cards Plus183 m
- retail: B Casual183 m
- retail: Perfume Hut186 m
- retail: Miniso186 m
- retail: International News188 m
- retail: Society191 m
- retail: Fido194 m
- retail: Labels194 m
- highway: Markham Road196 m
- retail: Canadian Shoe Outlet198 m
- parking lot199 m
Park profile
Five-axis radar across the structural dimensions.
Citywide percentile ranks
Across all Toronto parks in the dataset.
- Overall vitality68th
- Edge activation11th
- Connectivity97th
- Amenity diversity97th
- Natural comfort68th
- Enclosure41th
Most similar parks
Closest in metric space across the five structural dimensions.
- Etienne Brule ParkRavine / Naturalized Park44
- Goldhawk ParkCorridor / Linear Park41
- Buttonwood ParkAthletic / Recreation Park41
- Ancaster ParkNeighbourhood Park44
- Coronation Park - YorkRavine / Naturalized Park37
Most opposite parks
Furthest in metric space. Useful for recognising what kind of park this isn’t.
- Arnell PlazaCivic Square50
- Queen'S Quay Traffic IslandWaterfront Park49
- ALEX WILSON COMMUNITY GARDEN - Open Green SpaceUrban Plaza59
- Bernard Avenue Road AllowanceUrban Plaza57
- Trca Lands ( 26)Ravine / Naturalized Park27
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 Cedar Brook 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.
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.
- 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.