Irene Avenue Parkette
Urban Plaza, middle of the pack overall (score 38, rank ~66th percentile). Strongest: connectivity; weakest: natural comfort.
Aerial, City of Toronto orthophoto, ~8 cm/px source · cached 5/9/2026
Irene Avenue Parkette scores 38.2 / 100. Strongest dimensions: enclosure / eyes on park and connectivity. Weakest: edge activation (10.6). Border-vacuum risk is elevated (100). This score is a transparent reading of Jane Jacobs-style vitality factors, not a definitive judgment.
Area · 0.16 ha
What's here
Getting around
104 m of mapped path. Too little surface tagging to say how much is paved.
No steps mapped on the path network.
Not enough mapped seating to assess (4 benches mapped).
Nearest parking 82 m away. None of the 2 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.Boundary: OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).
Explain this score
Where did the 38 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
Irene Avenue Parkette works because its connectivity score (80) is one of the city's strongest and its amenity diversity (33) is also top quartile (21 transit stops sit within a 400 m walk; 19 intersections fall within 100 m of the edge).
What limits this park
Irene Avenue Parkette is held back by natural comfort (32, bottom quartile): only 0% canopy means little summer shade; border-vacuum risk is also elevated (100).
Most distinctive characteristic
Most distinctive feature: exceptionally high connectivity (80, top decile).
Jacobs reading
Irene Avenue Parkette sits between an urban social park and an ecological retreat: moderately useful for both, exceptionally suited to neither.
Tradeoffs
- Connectivity (80) significantly outpaces natural comfort (32): well placed in the city but offers little shade or ecological respite.
- The park is enclosed by buildings (81) but the surrounding streets are quiet (edge activation 11): 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
Classified as Urban Plaza: 1602 m², paved (0% canopy), 40.7 buildings/100 m
Edge Activation
Within 100 m of the park edge: 58 active uses (retail, cafe, restaurant) and 10 dead/hostile uses (parking_lot, highway, 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
Connectivity blends paths, intersections, transit, entrances, and edge density. This park has 10 mapped paths/walkways and 28 sidewalk segments within 50 m; 19 street intersections within 100 m; 21 transit stops within a 400 m walk; 8 estimated access points across ~192 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
4 distinct amenity types in the park (playground, bench, drinking_water, picnic). 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: ~1.4% effective canopy (0.0% from contiguous tree polygons + scattered tree density); 2 city-mapped trees inside the polygon (2.0/ha). Reading: exposed. Source coverage: 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
78 buildings within 25 m of the park edge (4 mid-rise, 74 low-rise, 0 tower); avg edge height 7.3 m (~2 floors); 40.7 buildings per 100 m of 192 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 4 mid-rise edge buildings.
Source: Toronto 3D Massing (building footprints + heights)
Border Vacuum Risk
Border-vacuum factors within 50 m of the park: Bloor Street West, Line 2 Bloor-Danforth, Line 2 Bloor-Danforth, Line 2 Bloor-Danforth, Line 2 Bloor-Danforth, Bloor Street West, Bloor Street West. 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 (4 types · 8 records)
- playground
- bench
- drinking water
- picnic
Nearby active-edge features (80)
- rail: Line 2 Bloor-Danforth7 m
- rail: Line 2 Bloor-Danforth7 m
- rail: Line 2 Bloor-Danforth7 m
- restaurant: Shrinking Violet26 m
- retail: Cock-A-Doodle-Doo Gluten-Free Bakeshop26 m
- retail: Eweknit28 m
- retail30 m
- retail: Black Lion Hair Salon & Barber Shop30 m
- restaurant: Tallboys Craft Beer House30 m
- restaurant: Joy Hookah Lounge30 m
- restaurant: Jolly Bar & Resturant30 m
- restaurant: Habesha Sports Bar & Cafe30 m
- restaurant: Bar Hwunet & Cafe33 m
- restaurant: Vịt Béo38 m
- restaurant: Addis Live40 m
- highway: Bloor Street West44 m
- rail: Line 2 Bloor-Danforth44 m
- highway: Bloor Street West45 m
- restaurant: Eggsmart45 m
- highway: Bloor Street West48 m
- restaurant: Menalon Restaurant56 m
- retail: A L Mini Mart56 m
- retail: Woof! Dog Shop & Daycare57 m
- retail: Toronto Darts & Games58 m
- restaurant: Christie Pits Pub58 m
- retail: Cosmopolitan Salon YYZ58 m
- retail: Kelaima Beauty & Health Design58 m
- retail: Shaw Coin Laundry58 m
- retail: Designs By Nature Gems59 m
- retail: Gluten Free by L’Artisan59 m
- retail: Vince Gasparro's Meat Market60 m
- restaurant: Electric Bill61 m
- restaurant: Riki Sushi63 m
- restaurant: Selam Restaurant & Lounge63 m
- retail: Freta Injera & Variety Store66 m
- retail: Bloor Fresh Market67 m
- retail: Toronto Gold68 m
- restaurant: Fresh Habesha69 m
- retail: Vito Vesia Auto Trim70 m
- cafe: Saving Gigi70 m
- retail: Carling Mini Mart71 m
- retail72 m
- retail: Lux Nails73 m
- retail: Clarisse Hair Salon75 m
- retail: Ba Noi75 m
- highway: Bloor Street West75 m
- retail: 6ix Despensary76 m
- restaurant: La Bella Managua76 m
- restaurant: Paku Food Group78 m
- retail: D&W Wellness79 m
- highway: Bloor Street West79 m
- parking lot: Toronto Parking Authority - Ossington82 m
- restaurant: Lalibela Lounge82 m
- retail: Joo Beauty Salon82 m
- cafe: Tim Hortons83 m
- retail85 m
- restaurant: Lalibela Restaurant85 m
- retail: Progressive Orthotic Design Inc86 m
- restaurant: Latin World89 m
- retail: DK Nails & Hair89 m
- cafe: Hello Coffee91 m
- retail91 m
- restaurant: Civil Liberties93 m
- retail: Cheques Cashed94 m
- restaurant: Bloomer's94 m
- cafe: Star Glow97 m
- restaurant: Chantecler97 m
- retail: Cowlick98 m
- retail: Frena Beauty Salon101 m
- cafe: ThirdPlace103 m
- retail: Ossington Minimart106 m
- retail: LCBO110 m
- retail: 180 Smoke Vape Store111 m
- restaurant: Gochu Libre112 m
- restaurant: Monica's Bar114 m
- restaurant: Bloor Street Bar & Grill115 m
- highway: Bloor Street West116 m
- retail: Ellis Cleaners116 m
- retail117 m
- retail: Yatana Variety Store119 m
Park profile
Five-axis radar across the structural dimensions.
Citywide percentile ranks
Across all Toronto parks in the dataset.
- Overall vitality66th
- Edge activation70th
- Connectivity99th
- Amenity diversity86th
- Natural comfort16th
- Enclosure85th
Most similar parks
Closest in metric space across the five structural dimensions.
- Logan Green FieldUrban Plaza47
- Salem ParketteUrban Plaza41
- West Toronto Rail PathCorridor / Linear Park36
- SCADDING COURT COMMUNITY CENTRE - Building GroundsParkette41
- Northtown ParkParkette41
Most opposite parks
Furthest in metric space. Useful for recognising what kind of park this isn’t.
- Trca Lands ( 26)Ravine / Naturalized Park27
- Toronto Islands - Muggs Island ParkRavine / Naturalized Park25
- Rouge ParkRavine / Naturalized Park28
- Rouge ParkRavine / Naturalized Park26
- Rouge ParkWaterfront 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 Irene Avenue Parkette 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.
- 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.
- 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.