Glen Long Park
Neighbourhood Park, above average overall (score 40, rank ~70th percentile). Strongest: amenity diversity; weakest: edge activation.
Aerial, City of Toronto orthophoto, ~8 cm/px source · cached 5/9/2026
Glen Long Park scores 39.5 / 100. Strongest dimensions: enclosure / eyes on park and connectivity. Weakest: edge activation (0). Border-vacuum risk is elevated (60). This score is a transparent reading of Jane Jacobs-style vitality factors, not a definitive judgment.
Area · 2.43 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.
Loading map…
The parks map is loading.Boundary: OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).
Explain this score
Where did the 40 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
Glen Long Park works because its amenity diversity score (39) is in the top tier and its connectivity (66) is also top quartile.
What limits this park
Glen Long 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 (60).
Most distinctive characteristic
Most distinctive feature: exceptionally high amenity diversity (39, top decile).
Jacobs reading
Glen Long 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 (69) but the surrounding streets are quiet (edge activation 0): frame without animation.
- High connectivity coexists with high border-vacuum risk (60): much of that connectivity is to highways, rail, or parking lots, not to neighbourhoods.
Typology classification
Classified as Neighbourhood Park: 2.4 ha, framed by 5 mid-rise vs 0 towers
Edge Activation
Within 100 m of the park edge: 22 active uses (restaurant, transit_stop, community, retail, cafe) and 12 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 11 mapped paths/walkways and 9 sidewalk segments within 50 m; 8 street intersections within 100 m; 19 transit stops within a 400 m walk; 6 estimated access points across ~694 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
5 distinct amenity types in the park (playground, washroom, community_centre, ice_rink, pool). 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: ~21.9% effective canopy (0.6% from contiguous tree polygons + scattered tree density); 76 city-mapped trees inside the polygon (31.2/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
111 buildings within 25 m of the park edge (5 mid-rise, 106 low-rise, 0 tower); avg edge height 5.5 m (~2 floors); 16.0 buildings per 100 m of 694 m perimeter (strong frontage density); edges are barely there or single-storey; no towers immediately adjacent. "Eyes on the park" come strongest from the 5 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, parking_lot, parking_lot, 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: 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 (5 types · 8 records)
- playground
- washroom
- community centre
- ice rink
- pool
Nearby active-edge features (69)
- community: Glen Long Community Centre0 m
- parking lot0 m
- parking lot0 m
- parking lot10 m
- retail: YB Normal Tattoo16 m
- retail: Lucio's Hair Fashion17 m
- retail: Absolute Electronic Service20 m
- parking lot22 m
- retail: Wholesale Prices Cleaners23 m
- parking lot36 m
- restaurant: Mr. Sub41 m
- transit stop: Dufferin St at Glengrove Ave66 m
- retail: Terra Nova Bakery and Pastry67 m
- retail: Astro Variety & Gift74 m
- transit stop: Dufferin St at Glengrove Ave74 m
- restaurant: Tostadas Grill79 m
- retail: Bolonga Pastificio81 m
- parking lot83 m
- parking lot85 m
- retail: Glen Park Cleaners85 m
- restaurant: Camarra85 m
- parking lot86 m
- retail: Amico Bakery89 m
- parking lot90 m
- parking lot92 m
- restaurant: Sheba Lounge93 m
- parking lot94 m
- retail: Lavish Bath Company94 m
- retail: Igo Optical94 m
- retail: Nina Nails Supply95 m
- retail: The Hair Spot95 m
- parking lot95 m
- retail: Dufferin Meat Market97 m
- cafe: Caffe Sportivo97 m
- retail: City Fish Market100 m
- retail: Columbus Bakery102 m
- retail: Royal Importing106 m
- retail: Ave 22 Off The Rack109 m
- retail: Quality Picture Frame113 m
- retail: Benjamin Moore115 m
- retail: Sa Vie Hair Studio121 m
- retail: Ready Go123 m
- parking lot123 m
- parking lot124 m
- retail: Market Balkan127 m
- parking lot131 m
- transit stop: 40 Playfair Ave (Villa Colombo)132 m
- parking lot136 m
- retail: The Meat Store136 m
- parking lot140 m
- parking lot141 m
- transit stop: Glencairn Avenue142 m
- parking lot143 m
- parking lot146 m
- transit stop: Glencairn Ave at Ennerdale St147 m
- cafe: Tony's Espresso Bar151 m
- transit stop: Wenderly Drive154 m
- transit stop: Glencairn Ave at Ennerdale St164 m
- retail: Neighbours Coffee166 m
- parking lot175 m
- transit stop: Glencairn Ave at Dufferin St177 m
- retail: The Fireplace Company182 m
- parking lot183 m
- parking lot184 m
- transit stop: Playfair Avenue186 m
- transit stop: Glencairn Ave at Dufferin St187 m
- parking lot197 m
- restaurant: Darosa198 m
- retail: Dufferin Laundry200 m
Park profile
Five-axis radar across the structural dimensions.
Citywide percentile ranks
Across all Toronto parks in the dataset.
- Overall vitality70th
- Edge activation27th
- Connectivity86th
- Amenity diversity90th
- Natural comfort66th
- Enclosure69th
Most similar parks
Closest in metric space across the five structural dimensions.
- Lindylou ParkRavine / Naturalized Park43
- Seasons ParkAthletic / Recreation Park42
- Lambton ParkRavine / Naturalized Park36
- Clanton ParkNeighbourhood Park40
- Roundhouse ParkNeighbourhood Park34
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
- Trca Lands ( 26)Ravine / Naturalized Park27
- Toronto Islands - Muggs Island ParkRavine / Naturalized Park25
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 Glen Long 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.
- 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.