Holmes Park
Urban Plaza, above average overall (score 42, rank ~78th percentile). Strongest: edge activation; weakest: natural comfort.
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Holmes Park scores 42.2 / 100. Strongest dimensions: enclosure / eyes on park and connectivity. Weakest: amenity diversity (11.9). Border-vacuum risk is low. This score is a transparent reading of Jane Jacobs-style vitality factors, not a definitive judgment.
Area · 0.10 ha
What's here
Getting around
No walking paths mapped in OpenStreetMap.
No seating mapped in OpenStreetMap.
Nearest parking 71 m away. None of the 19 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 65%
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.Explain this score
Where did the 42 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
Holmes Park works because its edge activation score (38) is in the top tier and its enclosure (77) is also top quartile.
What limits this park
Holmes Park is held back by natural comfort (23, bottom quartile): only 0% canopy means little summer shade.
Most distinctive characteristic
Most distinctive feature: exceptionally low natural comfort (23, bottom quartile).
Jacobs reading
Holmes Park sits between an urban social park and an ecological retreat: moderately useful for both, exceptionally suited to neither.
Tradeoffs
- 6 nearby towers cast wind and shadow without contributing canopy: passive surveillance is plentiful but human-scale comfort is not.
Typology classification
Classified as Urban Plaza: 1029 m², paved (0% canopy), 15.8 buildings/100 m
Edge Activation
Within 100 m of the park edge: 14 active uses (restaurant, cafe, retail) and 4 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 0 mapped paths/walkways and 5 sidewalk segments within 50 m; 4 street intersections within 100 m; 27 transit stops within a 400 m walk; 0 estimated access points across ~158 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
1 distinct amenity types in the park (playground). 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: 0.0% estimated tree canopy; nearest waterbody ~1049 m. Reading: exposed. Source coverage: waterbodies. 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
25 buildings within 25 m of the park edge (7 mid-rise, 12 low-rise, 6 tower); avg edge height 28.8 m (~10 floors); 15.8 buildings per 100 m of 158 m perimeter (strong frontage density); edges lean tall but still framed; 6 towers ≥ 40 m within 25 m of the edge. "Eyes on the park" come strongest from the 7 mid-rise edge buildings.
Source: Toronto 3D Massing (building footprints + heights)
Border Vacuum Risk
Park edges face the city. No significant border vacuum detected.
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 (1 types · 1 records)
- playground
Nearby active-edge features (80)
- parking lot71 m
- parking lot79 m
- retail: Balance Hair and Nail Studio89 m
- retail: Kira Kira Nail and Beauty89 m
- retail: Foxy Nail and Spa90 m
- parking lot91 m
- retail: Lips Boutique by J.K.A.92 m
- retail: Skin Love Esthetic92 m
- restaurant: Oh! Bar93 m
- restaurant: MeNami95 m
- cafe: Gong Cha96 m
- retail: Cola Pet96 m
- restaurant: Tasty Hut97 m
- parking lot97 m
- restaurant: Sang-Ji Fried Bao98 m
- retail: iBAKE98 m
- restaurant: Gol’s Lanzhou Noodle98 m
- restaurant: Mabu Station99 m
- restaurant: Magic Noodle100 m
- parking lot101 m
- restaurant: Korean Chinese Restaurant101 m
- cafe: Gong Cha102 m
- retail: In Style Hair Salon103 m
- restaurant: Meet You104 m
- restaurant: Buk Chang Dong Soon Tofu Korean Restaurant104 m
- restaurant: Sansotei Ramen105 m
- retail: Jealousy Beauty105 m
- restaurant: N Dolphin Karaoke106 m
- retail: Pegah Books107 m
- restaurant: Angus Pho House107 m
- restaurant: Pine House Cafe107 m
- restaurant: Gino's Pizza107 m
- restaurant: Zhangliang108 m
- restaurant: Jin's Mi-Fen108 m
- restaurant: Wing Machine109 m
- cafe: Cafe Bene110 m
- restaurant: VIPS Sushi112 m
- restaurant: Ling BBQ114 m
- restaurant: Authentic Japanese Food115 m
- restaurant: Hot-Star Fried Chicken116 m
- highway: Yonge Street118 m
- restaurant: Lim Ga Ne Korean Restaurant118 m
- restaurant: Pizza Shab120 m
- restaurant: Yonge Billiard Club120 m
- highway: Yonge Street121 m
- restaurant: Vietnamese Delight122 m
- restaurant: Pho Vietnamese Delight122 m
- restaurant: Sang-Ji Fried Bao123 m
- highway: Yonge Street125 m
- retail129 m
- highway: Yonge Street130 m
- restaurant: Jangteo Gukbap131 m
- parking lot134 m
- transit stop: Yonge St. @ Kempford Blvd.138 m
- transit stop: Yonge Street at Kempford Boulevard138 m
- restaurant: Misato Sushi138 m
- highway: Yonge Street138 m
- retail: Daisy Nails & Spa139 m
- restaurant: Kayagum139 m
- highway: Yonge Street139 m
- parking lot141 m
- transit stop: Yonge Street at Byng Avenue142 m
- retail: Hair Tree143 m
- cafe: Chatime145 m
- parking lot145 m
- retail: Moha Pet Studio147 m
- retail: Mr. Pen148 m
- cafe: Tim Hortons151 m
- restaurant: Pastel Creperie152 m
- retail: NYX E-Cigs Inc.153 m
- parking lot155 m
- retail: Me Spa156 m
- restaurant: Banh Mi Nana156 m
- parking lot158 m
- restaurant: Pizza Nova161 m
- highway: Yonge Street161 m
- restaurant: My Sushi173 m
- restaurant: Hui Lau Shan176 m
- highway: Yonge Street177 m
- restaurant: Hey Sugar | 嘿糖178 m
Park profile
Five-axis radar across the structural dimensions.
Citywide percentile ranks
Across all Toronto parks in the dataset.
- Overall vitality78th
- Edge activation91th
- Connectivity50th
- Amenity diversity60th
- Natural comfort3th
- Enclosure81th
Most similar parks
Closest in metric space across the five structural dimensions.
- MOUNT DENNIS COMMUNITY HALL - Building GroundsUrban Plaza38
- Conley Park SouthNeighbourhood Park42
- Fountainhead Tennis ClubUrban Plaza37
- Grasett ParkUrban Plaza40
- Queensway-Windermere Orphan SpaceUrban Plaza42
Most opposite parks
Furthest in metric space. Useful for recognising what kind of park this isn’t.
- Trca Lands ( 26)Ravine / Naturalized Park27
- Rouge ParkRavine / Naturalized Park28
- Toronto Islands - Muggs Island ParkRavine / Naturalized Park25
- Rouge ParkRavine / Naturalized Park26
- Rouge ParkRavine / Naturalized Park30
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 Holmes 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.
- Add or open more entrances and improve sidewalk continuity around the park. More permeability means more spontaneous use.
- Diversify what people can do in the park (playground, washroom, water, shade, performance, sport, garden): even small additions raise this score.
- Increase canopy and reduce paved area. Shade and water features extend usable hours and seasons.
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.
- Neighbourhood Profiles(Pending) Equity context proxy.
- OpenStreetMap (Overpass API)Cafés, restaurants, retail, transit stops, parking, highways, rail.