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Toronto Parks Atlas
Geary Avenue Parkette, site photograph
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Parkettecluster ·Walkable Mid-Rise Neighbourhood Parks (large-scale)Wychwood (94)confidence moderate

Geary Avenue Parkette

Parkette, middle of the pack overall (score 39, rank ~69th percentile). Strongest: connectivity; weakest: natural comfort.

Aerial, City of Toronto orthophoto, ~8 cm/px source · cached 5/9/2026

Geary Avenue Parkette scores 39.2 / 100. Strongest dimensions: enclosure / eyes on park and connectivity. Weakest: edge activation (23.4). Border-vacuum risk is elevated (100). This score is a transparent reading of Jane Jacobs-style vitality factors, not a definitive judgment.

Best fora quiet siteveryday neighbourhood use

Area · 0.77 ha

What's here

Recreation
Playground
Facilities
Drinking waterBenches
Vitality Score
39/100

Weighted across six dimensions · confidence 72%

Data Confidence
39.2 / 100
Citywide
69th
of all 3,788 parks
Among Parkette
75th
same primary typology
Expected for similar parks
37
median in small Parkette (n=247)
Performance gap
+2
raw − expected · context confidence high
typical

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

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Street context. Park polygon highlighted on the citywide map.

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.

Download JSON
What pushed this score up or down vs a neutral 50weight × score
Edge Activation23 · p79
-6.7
Border Vacuum Risk100 (risk)
-5.0
Amenity Diversity27 · p79
-4.5
Connectivity65 · p84
+3.0
Enclosure / Eyes on Park74 · p76
+2.4
Natural Comfort51 · p65
+0.1

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

Geary Avenue Parkette works because its connectivity score (65) is above average and its edge activation (23) is also top quartile (28 transit stops sit within a 400 m walk; 24 intersections fall within 100 m of the edge).

What limits this park

Geary Avenue Parkette's edges are fronted by border-vacuum land uses (highways, rail, parking, blank institutional), risk score 100.

Most distinctive characteristic

Most distinctive feature: exceptionally high connectivity (65, top quartile).

Jacobs reading

Geary 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 (74) but the surrounding streets are quiet (edge activation 23): 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

confidence 70%
Parkette

Classified as Parkette: small (7727 m²) with strong building frontage (15.3 per 100 m)

Edge Activation

25% weightpartial 60%
23.4 / 100

Within 100 m of the park edge: 15 active uses (retail, transit_stop, cafe) and 6 dead/hostile uses (rail). 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%
64.8 / 100

Connectivity blends paths, intersections, transit, entrances, and edge density. This park has 1 mapped paths/walkways and 19 sidewalk segments within 50 m; 24 street intersections within 100 m; 28 transit stops within a 400 m walk; 0 estimated access points across ~609 m of perimeter. edge density is healthy, no superblock penalty. Source coverage: centreline, pedestrian_network, transit_osm.

Streets within 25 m15
Intersections within 100 m24
Paths/walkways (50 m)1
Sidewalk segments (50 m)19
Transit stops (400 m)28
Estimated entrances0
Edge connections / 100 m perimeter2.46
Park perimeter609 m

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

Amenity Diversity

20% weightmeasured 75%
27.3 / 100

3 distinct amenity types in the park (playground, bench, drinking_water). 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%
50.7 / 100

Natural-comfort components for this park: ~18.2% effective canopy (1.9% from contiguous tree polygons + scattered tree density); nearest waterbody ~1180 m; 26 city-mapped trees inside the polygon (26.0/ha). Reading: exposed. Source coverage: treed_area, waterbodies, street_trees. Impervious surface is approximated (Toronto's authoritative layer ships only as a raster GeoTIFF).

Canopy coverage1.9%
Canopy area0.01 ha
Inside ravine system0.0%
Water surface inside park0.0%
Nearest water (if outside park)1,180 m
Estimated green100.0%
City-mapped trees inside polygon26
Tree density26.0 / ha
Cover diversity (Shannon, 0 to 100)13.3
Sample points used54

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

Enclosure / Eyes on Park

10% weightmeasured 80%
73.5 / 100

93 buildings within 25 m of the park edge (7 mid-rise, 86 low-rise, 0 tower); avg edge height 6.6 m (~2 floors); 15.3 buildings per 100 m of 609 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 7 mid-rise edge buildings.

Buildings within 25 m93
Buildings within 50 m93
Avg edge height6.6 m (~2 floors)
Tallest edge building13.8 m
Mid-rise (3 to 7 floors)7
Low-rise (< 3 floors)86
Towers (≥ 13 floors)0
Frontage density15.27 per 100 m perimeter
Mid-rise share of edge8%
Tower share of edge0%
Blank-edge share (proxy)0%
Park perimeter609 m

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

Border Vacuum Risk

10% weightpartial 60%
100.0 risk

Border-vacuum factors within 50 m of the park: North Toronto Subdivision, North Toronto Subdivision, North Toronto Subdivision, North Toronto Subdivision, North Toronto Subdivision, North Toronto Subdivision. 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

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 · 6 records)

  • playground
  • bench
  • drinking water

Nearby active-edge features (35)

  • rail: North Toronto Subdivision13 m
  • rail: North Toronto Subdivision13 m
  • rail: North Toronto Subdivision17 m
  • rail: North Toronto Subdivision17 m
  • rail: North Toronto Subdivision21 m
  • retail: PASSAGE TATTOO21 m
  • rail: North Toronto Subdivision24 m
  • retail: Emblem25 m
  • transit stop: Dovercourt Rd at Geary Ave30 m
  • transit stop: Dovercourt Rd at Geary Ave48 m
  • transit stop: Salvador Allende Court66 m
  • transit stop69 m
  • transit stop: Dovercourt Rd at Dupont St70 m
  • transit stop: Dupont Street73 m
  • transit stop: Dupont St at Dovercourt Rd74 m
  • transit stop: Dupont St at Ossington Ave75 m
  • transit stop: Dupont St at Dovercourt Rd92 m
  • retail: Master Mechanic96 m
  • cafe: Rooms Coffee | 915 Dupont96 m
  • transit stop: Dovercourt Rd at Dupont St96 m
  • retail: Origin Wellness99 m
  • transit stop: Dupont St at Ossington Ave113 m
  • rail: North Toronto Subdivision118 m
  • rail: North Toronto Subdivision119 m
  • parking lot122 m
  • restaurant: Amelia's Market130 m
  • rail141 m
  • retail: Joe's Convenience143 m
  • transit stop: Dupont Street143 m
  • cafe: Dark Horse149 m
  • retail: Gaucho Pie Co.152 m
  • retail: Famiglia Baldassarre159 m
  • parking lot164 m
  • rail: North Toronto Subdivision171 m
  • parking lot198 m

Park profile

Five-axis radar across the structural dimensions.

Edge ActivationConnectivityAmenity DiversityNatural ComfortEnclosureGeary Avenue Parkette
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
    69th
  • Edge activation
    79th
  • Connectivity
    84th
  • Amenity diversity
    79th
  • Natural comfort
    65th
  • Enclosure
    76th

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 Geary 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.

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.
  • 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

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.