Earl Bales Park
Waterfront Park, in the top tier overall (score 48, rank ~90th percentile). Strongest: amenity diversity; weakest: edge activation.
Photo by Sikander Iqbal, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Data updated
Earl Bales Park scores 47.5 / 100. Strongest dimensions: natural comfort and connectivity. 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 · 129.14 ha
What's here
Getting around
17.8 km of mapped path, 35% paved.
No steps mapped on the path network.
Not enough mapped seating to assess (17 benches mapped).
Parking inside the park. 1 of 38 nearby lots reporting accessible spaces without a count.
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.
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Boundary: OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).
Public art in this park
2Canadian Society for Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial Site
Ernest Raab, 1991
Sculpture · bronze
The CSYV Holocaust Memorial Site is situated near the entrance to Earl Bales Park at 4169 Bathurst Street, in North York, Toronto. The site is adjacent to residential areas where thousands of Holocaust survivors rebuilt their lives in Canada after the war. The site was constructed in three phases over a period of 30 years and contains almost 5,000 names of victims and survivors of the Holocaust, the most extensive listing of any memorial site in Canada.
Photo: City of Toronto. Source: City of Toronto Public Art
3Jose Rizal Memorial
F.B. Caede, 1998
Sculpture · bronze, masonry
Photo: City of Toronto. Source: City of Toronto Public Art
4Raoul Wallenberg Memorial
Ernest Raab, 1996
Sculpture · bronze
Photo: City of Toronto. Source: City of Toronto Public Art
Numbers match the pins on the map. Works near the park are within 30 m of its edge.
Explain this score
Where did the 48 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
Earl Bales Park works because its amenity diversity score (67) is one of the city's strongest and its connectivity (77) is also top decile (13 distinct amenity types support different kinds of use).
What limits this park
Earl Bales Park is held back by edge activation (0, below-average): 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 amenity diversity (67, top decile).
Jacobs reading
Earl Bales 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 (67) 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.
Performance in context
- A modest overperformer for its waterfront park typology (+8 vs the median in very large Waterfront Park waterfront).
Typology classification
Classified as Waterfront Park: 5% water surface inside park. Secondary read: Ravine / Naturalized Park (100% ravine overlap, 47% canopy).
Edge Activation
Within 100 m of the park edge: 11 active uses (transit_stop) and 38 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: OpenStreetMap: cafes, restaurants, shops, schools, community centres, transit, parking, highways, rail. All data sources.
Connectivity
Connectivity blends paths, intersections, transit, entrances, and edge density. This park has 80 mapped paths/walkways and 163 sidewalk segments within 50 m; 65 street intersections within 100 m; 16 bus stops within a 400 m walk; 18 estimated access points across ~9,822 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. All data sources.
Amenity Diversity
13 distinct amenity types in the park (community_centre, dog_area, picnic, playground, skatepark, washroom, …). Diversity drives the score, so a park with many distinct activity types can outrank a larger park that repeats the same use. 4 public artworks in the park add a bonus for the number of works.
Source: Toronto Parks & Recreation Facilities + OSM amenity tags. All data sources.
Natural Comfort
Natural-comfort components for this park: 47.0% estimated tree canopy; 99.8% inside the ravine system; 5.4% water surface; 191 city-mapped trees inside the polygon (1.5/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. All data sources.
Enclosure / Eyes on Park
514 buildings within 25 m of the park edge (70 mid-rise, 444 low-rise, 0 tower); avg edge height 7.2 m (~2 floors); 5.2 buildings per 100 m of 9,822 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 70 mid-rise edge buildings.
Source: Toronto 3D Massing (building footprints + heights). All data sources.
Border Vacuum Risk
Border-vacuum factors within 50 m of the park: parking_lot, parking_lot, parking_lot, parking_lot, parking_lot, parking_lot, parking_lot, parking_lot, parking_lot, parking_lot, Highway 401 Collector, Highway 401 Express, Highway 401 Collector, Highway 401 Collector, 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: OpenStreetMap: highways, rail, parking. All data sources.
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: Not loaded yet: Toronto Neighbourhood Profiles. All data sources.
Amenities (13 types · 45 records)
- community centre
- dog area
- picnic
- playground
- skatepark
- washroom
- art
- bbq
- bench
- drinking water
- fitness
- garden
- shelter
Nearby active-edge features (80)
- parking lot0 m
- parking lot0 m
- parking lot0 m
- parking lot0 m
- parking lot0 m
- transit stop: Raoul Wallenberg Road2 m
- transit stop: Bathurst Street at Danby Avenue North Side3 m
- transit stop: Bathurst Street at McAllister Road4 m
- transit stop: Sheppard Avenue at Don River Blvd6 m
- parking lot9 m
- parking lot11 m
- parking lot14 m
- parking lot14 m
- parking lot19 m
- highway: Highway 401 Collector19 m
- transit stop: Bathurst Street at Bainbridge Avenue21 m
- transit stop: Bathurst Street at Reiner Road22 m
- highway: Highway 401 Collector23 m
- transit stop: Bathurst Street at Danby Avenue25 m
- transit stop: Sheppard Avenue at Don River Blvd26 m
- parking lot30 m
- parking lot32 m
- highway: Highway 401 Collector36 m
- highway: Highway 401 Express41 m
- highway: Highway 401 Collector51 m
- highway: Highway 401 Express61 m
- highway: Highway 401 Express64 m
- parking lot64 m
- parking lot67 m
- parking lot68 m
- parking lot75 m
- transit stop: 555 Sheppard Ave West78 m
- highway: Highway 401 Collector80 m
- parking lot83 m
- highway: Highway 401 Express83 m
- highway: Yonge Street83 m
- parking lot86 m
- parking lot93 m
- parking lot94 m
- parking lot95 m
- transit stop: Sheppard Avenue at Bathurst Street East Side96 m
- parking lot96 m
- highway: Yonge Street96 m
- parking lot98 m
- highway: Highway 401 Collector99 m
- parking lot99 m
- transit stop: Bathurst Street at York Downs Drive99 m
- highway: Highway 401 Collector99 m
- highway: Highway 401 Collector100 m
- retail: Snow White Dry Cleaners101 m
- retail: Sunny Convenience101 m
- parking lot103 m
- restaurant: China Court104 m
- retail: Quick Clean Coin Laundry107 m
- highway: Highway 401 Express108 m
- parking lot110 m
- retail: Mark's International Deli111 m
- transit stop: Sheppard Avenue at Bathurst Street113 m
- transit stop: Bathurst Street at Sheppard Avenue West115 m
- parking lot117 m
- restaurant: Summer House120 m
- highway: Highway 401 Express124 m
- parking lot126 m
- parking lot130 m
- retail: The Crumble Story135 m
- highway: Highway 401 Collector135 m
- parking lot136 m
- highway: Highway 401 Collector140 m
- parking lot141 m
- highway: Highway 401 Collector142 m
- retail: Convenience147 m
- highway: Yonge Street151 m
- retail: Richmond Kosher Bakery151 m
- highway: Yonge Street152 m
- transit stop: Bathurst Street at York Downs Drive153 m
- parking lot157 m
- transit stop: Sheppard Avenue at Bathurst Street160 m
- transit stop: Bathurst Street at Sheppard Avenue West171 m
- parking lot172 m
- highway: Highway 401 Express174 m
Park profile
Five-axis radar across the structural dimensions.
Citywide percentile ranks
Across all Toronto parks in the dataset.
- Overall vitality90th
- Edge activation25th
- Connectivity97th
- Amenity diversity100th
- Natural comfort92th
- Enclosure67th
Most similar parks
Closest in metric space across the five structural dimensions.
- G. Ross Lord ParkWaterfront Park45
- Rennie ParkWaterfront Park47
- Humber ArboretumWaterfront Park44
- Roding ParkRavine / Naturalized Park47
- L'Amoreaux North ParkWaterfront Park51
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
- Rouge ParkRavine / Naturalized Park18
- Trca Lands ( 58)Ravine / Naturalized Park18
- City Wide Open SpaceUrban Plaza43
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 Earl Bales 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.
- 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: Green SpacesPolygon boundaries, official names, land classes. 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.
- OpenStreetMap (Overpass API)Cafés, restaurants, retail, transit stops, parking, highways, rail.