Dufferin Grove Park
Neighbourhood Park, one of the city's strongest overall (score 68, rank ~100th percentile). Strongest: amenity diversity; weakest: natural comfort.
Photo by Enerio Rodriguez via Google Places · cached 5/9/2026
Dufferin Grove Park scores 67.6 / 100. Strongest dimensions: enclosure / eyes on park and connectivity. Weakest: edge activation (53.8). Border-vacuum risk is low. This score is a transparent reading of Jane Jacobs-style vitality factors, not a definitive judgment.
Area · 5.62 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.
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Boundary: OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).
Explain this score
Where did the 68 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
Dufferin Grove Park works because its amenity diversity score (63) is one of the city's strongest and its connectivity (82) is also top decile (14 distinct amenity types support different kinds of use).
What limits this park
Dufferin Grove 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 amenity diversity (63, top decile).
Jacobs reading
Dufferin Grove Park is a balanced hybrid: strong urban integration (73) and meaningful natural comfort (65). Rare in the Toronto Park Catalogue.
Tradeoffs
- Connectivity (82) significantly outpaces natural comfort (55): well placed in the city but offers little shade or ecological respite.
Performance in context
- This park is a strong overperformer for its cohort: raw 68 versus an expected 39 for similar parks (large Neighbourhood Park) (gap +28).
Typology classification
Classified as Neighbourhood Park: 5.6 ha, framed by 33 mid-rise vs 1 towers
Edge Activation
Within 100 m of the park edge: 21 active uses (retail, cafe, transit_stop) and 3 dead/hostile uses (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 50 sidewalk segments within 50 m; 19 street intersections within 100 m; 27 transit stops within a 400 m walk; 18 estimated access points across ~1,030 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
14 distinct amenity types in the park (basketball, picnic, playground, skatepark, tennis, washroom, …). 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: ~20.8% effective canopy (9.7% from contiguous tree polygons + scattered tree density); 167 city-mapped trees inside the polygon (29.7/ha). Reading: exposed. Source coverage: treed_area, 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
145 buildings within 25 m of the park edge (33 mid-rise, 111 low-rise, 1 tower); avg edge height 8.3 m (~3 floors); 14.1 buildings per 100 m of 1,030 m perimeter (strong frontage density); edges are low-rise (mostly 2 to 3 floors); 1 tower ≥ 40 m within 25 m of the edge. "Eyes on the park" come strongest from the 33 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. 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 (14 types · 37 records)
- basketball
- picnic
- playground
- skatepark
- tennis
- washroom
- bbq
- bench
- drinking water
- ice rink
- pool
- shelter
- sports field
- table tennis
Nearby active-edge features (80)
- transit stop: Dufferin St at Dufferin Park Ave1 m
- transit stop: Dufferin St at Sylvan Ave4 m
- transit stop: Sylvan Avenue16 m
- transit stop: Dufferin Mall21 m
- transit stop: Dufferin St at Dufferin Park Ave30 m
- parking lot32 m
- retail: Marshalls35 m
- retail: Urban Customz47 m
- parking lot: Dufferin Mall Parking (two levels)53 m
- cafe: Big Orange55 m
- retail: MobileCare72 m
- parking lot: Dufferin Mall Parking74 m
- retail: Portage74 m
- retail: Dollarama76 m
- retail: Mark's76 m
- retail: Express Yourself78 m
- retail: LinsonQ80 m
- retail: Hearing Solutions82 m
- retail: Mas Man83 m
- retail: Karen's Fine Jewellery85 m
- retail: Ardene90 m
- retail: INS Market90 m
- retail96 m
- cafe: Tim Hortons100 m
- parking lot101 m
- parking lot102 m
- retail: Eye on Optical107 m
- retail: Champs113 m
- restaurant: McDonald's113 m
- retail: Gap113 m
- cafe: Zaza Espresso Bar116 m
- transit stop: Croatia Street120 m
- restaurant: KFC121 m
- retail: Shefield Express127 m
- retail: Trade Secrets135 m
- retail: Batteries N' Gadgets138 m
- retail: Miniso139 m
- retail: Pandora146 m
- retail: Kibo Market154 m
- parking lot155 m
- restaurant: Pizza Pizza158 m
- restaurant: Villa Madina158 m
- restaurant: New York Fries158 m
- retail: Foot Locker159 m
- restaurant: Subway159 m
- retail: Aura Fragrances159 m
- retail: Pasito159 m
- retail: La Senza159 m
- retail: Call It Spring159 m
- retail: Journeys160 m
- retail: Soft Moc160 m
- retail: claire's160 m
- retail: Tommy Hilfiger160 m
- retail: Stars160 m
- retail: Peoples Jewellers161 m
- retail: Suzy Shier Le Chateau161 m
- restaurant: Shanghai 360162 m
- retail: Signalwave162 m
- retail: Telus163 m
- restaurant: Mr. Pretzels164 m
- restaurant: Cinnabon165 m
- cafe: Cotti Coffee165 m
- retail: Michael Hill165 m
- retail: Swarovski165 m
- retail: Lids166 m
- retail: The Soap Tree166 m
- retail: Fido167 m
- restaurant: Thaï Express167 m
- retail: Freedom Mobile168 m
- retail: Goodtime Jewellers168 m
- retail: Casefit168 m
- retail: WirelessWave168 m
- retail: Face Off168 m
- retail: The Brow Boutique168 m
- retail: Tbooth Wireless168 m
- retail: Tbooth Wireless168 m
- restaurant: Tanghulu Tanghulu168 m
- retail: Showcase169 m
- retail: Virgin Plus169 m
- retail: Mulu170 m
Park profile
Five-axis radar across the structural dimensions.
Citywide percentile ranks
Across all Toronto parks in the dataset.
- Overall vitality100th
- Edge activation97th
- Connectivity99th
- Amenity diversity100th
- Natural comfort71th
- Enclosure88th
Most similar parks
Closest in metric space across the five structural dimensions.
- Vermont Square ParkCivic Square67
- Trace Manes ParkNeighbourhood Park59
- Grange ParkNeighbourhood Park65
- St. James ParkNeighbourhood Park61
- Trinity Bellwoods ParkNeighbourhood Park66
Most opposite parks
Furthest in metric space. Useful for recognising what kind of park this isn’t.
- Toronto Islands - Muggs Island ParkRavine / Naturalized Park25
- Trca Lands ( 26)Ravine / Naturalized Park27
- Rouge ParkRavine / Naturalized Park21
- Rouge ParkWaterfront Park25
- Rouge ParkRavine / Naturalized Park18
Visitor signals
Public attention measured by Google Places aggregates. This proxies attention, not occupancy. Aggregate-only: no usernames, no review text, no extra photos beyond the cached hero.
“Large park with an ice rink & playground, plus basketball, picnic areas & a weekly farmer's market.” (Google editorial summary)
p96 citywide · p94 within Neighbourhood Park
Source: Google Places API · match unverified (0.00 composite confidence) · last refreshed 5/9/2026. Privacy contract. Measures public attention, not occupancy.
Human activity signals
Programming, social attention, temporal rhythm, and nearby pedestrian / cycling flow. An experimental aggregate layer that complements the spatial scores. Partial coverage, partial confidence.
Activity reading: 80 events/yr (40 recurring); 2,400 public mentions; pedestrian intensity 55/100; cycling/trail 50/100. The strongest signal is programmed civic use. These are illustrative sample values. Calibrate before citing.
Sample data: numbers shown here are an illustrative fixture for the 10 named parks, not a measurement.
Does this score feel accurate?
Your read of Dufferin Grove 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.
- This park already scores well across all measured dimensions.
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.