Urban Plazacluster ·Walkable Mid-Rise Neighbourhood Parks (enclosure-leaning)Oakridge (121)confidence moderate

OAKRIDGE COMMUNITY RECREATION CENTRE - Building Grounds

Urban Plaza, middle of the pack overall (score 39, rank ~70th percentile). Strongest: edge activation; weakest: natural comfort.

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

OAKRIDGE COMMUNITY RECREATION CENTRE - Building Grounds scores 39.4 / 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.

Best fordaily passing-throughpocket meetings

Area · 0.28 ha

What's here

Facilities

Benches

Vitality Score

39/100

Weighted across six dimensions · confidence 66%

Data Confidence

39.4 / 100

Citywide

70th

of all 3,788 parks

Among Urban Plaza

53rd

same primary typology

Expected for similar parks

median in small Urban Plaza (n=115)

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.

Loading map…

Street context. Park polygon highlighted on the citywide map.

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 Activation17 · p77

-8.2

Amenity Diversity12 · p55

-7.6

Border Vacuum Risk12 (risk)

+3.8

Enclosure / Eyes on Park72 · p73

+2.2

Natural Comfort37 · p30

-1.9

Connectivity56 · p69

+1.1

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

OAKRIDGE COMMUNITY RECREATION CENTRE - Building Grounds works because its edge activation score (17) is above average and its enclosure (72) is also above-average.

What limits this park

OAKRIDGE COMMUNITY RECREATION CENTRE - Building Grounds is held back by natural comfort (37, below-average): only 0% canopy means little summer shade.

Most distinctive characteristic

Most distinctive feature: exceptionally high edge activation (17, top quartile).

Jacobs reading

OAKRIDGE COMMUNITY RECREATION CENTRE - Building Grounds 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 (72) but the surrounding streets are quiet (edge activation 17): frame without animation.

Typology classification

confidence 70%

Urban Plaza

Classified as Urban Plaza: 2794 m², paved (0% canopy), 31.1 buildings/100 m

Edge Activation

25% weightpartial 60%

17.3 / 100

Within 100 m of the park edge: 3 active uses (transit_stop, community) and 2 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

20% weightmeasured 85%

55.6 / 100

Connectivity blends paths, intersections, transit, entrances, and edge density. This park has 0 mapped paths/walkways and 16 sidewalk segments within 50 m; 5 street intersections within 100 m; 24 transit stops within a 400 m walk; 0 estimated access points across ~212 m of perimeter. edge density is healthy, no superblock penalty. Source coverage: centreline, pedestrian_network, transit_osm.

Streets within 25 m5

Intersections within 100 m5

Paths/walkways (50 m)0

Sidewalk segments (50 m)16

Transit stops (400 m)24

Estimated entrances0

Edge connections / 100 m perimeter2.35

Park perimeter212 m

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

Amenity Diversity

20% weightmeasured 75%

11.9 / 100

1 distinct amenity types in the park (bench). 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% weightinferred 36%

37.2 / 100

Natural-comfort components for this park: ~2.8% effective canopy (0.0% from contiguous tree polygons + scattered tree density); nearest waterbody ~470 m; 4 city-mapped trees inside the polygon (4.0/ha). Reading: exposed. Source coverage: waterbodies, street_trees. Impervious surface is approximated (Toronto's authoritative layer ships only as a raster GeoTIFF).

Canopy coverage0.0%

Canopy area0.00 ha

Inside ravine system0.0%

Water surface inside park0.0%

Nearest water (if outside park)470 m

Estimated green100.0%

City-mapped trees inside polygon4

Tree density4.0 / ha

Cover diversity (Shannon, 0 to 100)0.0

Sample points used20

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

Enclosure / Eyes on Park

10% weightmeasured 80%

71.5 / 100

66 buildings within 25 m of the park edge (2 mid-rise, 64 low-rise, 0 tower); avg edge height 5.3 m (~2 floors); 31.1 buildings per 100 m of 212 m perimeter (strong frontage density); edges are barely there or single-storey; no towers immediately adjacent. "Eyes on the park" come strongest from the 2 mid-rise edge buildings.

Buildings within 25 m66

Buildings within 50 m66

Avg edge height5.3 m (~2 floors)

Tallest edge building11.6 m

Mid-rise (3 to 7 floors)2

Low-rise (< 3 floors)64

Towers (≥ 13 floors)0

Frontage density31.07 per 100 m perimeter

Mid-rise share of edge3%

Tower share of edge0%

Blank-edge share (proxy)0%

Park perimeter212 m

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

Border Vacuum Risk

10% weightpartial 60%

12.0 risk

Border-vacuum factors within 50 m of the park: 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

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 (1 types · 4 records)

bench

Nearby active-edge features (24)

parking lot0 m
transit stop: Pharmacy Ave at Denton Ave4 m
transit stop: Pharmacy Ave at Denton Ave20 m
community: Oakridge Community Centre48 m
parking lot58 m
transit stop: Albion Avenue150 m
transit stop: Madelaine Avenue158 m
cafe: Addis Cafe166 m
retail176 m
transit stop: St. Dunstan Drive176 m
retail178 m
retail186 m
cafe: Ethio Natural Coffee186 m
restaurant: The Spicy Grill187 m
retail: Canada Immigration Services187 m
retail187 m
retail187 m
retail188 m
retail: Prime Design & Printing188 m
parking lot189 m
retail: Awash Variety193 m
transit stop: Pharmacy Avenue194 m
retail195 m
retail: Laptop Depot198 m

Park profile

Five-axis radar across the structural dimensions.

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
70th
Edge activation
77th
Connectivity
69th
Amenity diversity
55th
Natural comfort
30th
Enclosure
73th

Most similar parks

Closest in metric space across the five structural dimensions.

Ellerslie ParkNeighbourhood Park43
North York Hydro Green SpaceNeighbourhood Park41
Dell ParkUrban Plaza42
Measurement ParkOther41
Bridlewood ParkParkette42

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
Kew GardensNeighbourhood Park75
Rouge ParkRavine / Naturalized Park28
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 OAKRIDGE COMMUNITY RECREATION CENTRE - Building Groundsmatters. 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.

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.