Orphan'S Green
Parkette, middle of the pack overall (score 39, rank ~69th percentile). Strongest: enclosure; weakest: edge activation.
No photograph yet. If you have one of Orphan'S Green, we would like to use it.
Submit a photoAerial, City of Toronto orthophoto, ~8 cm/px source · cached 5/9/2026
Data updated
Orphan'S Green scores 39.3 / 100. Strongest dimensions: enclosure / eyes on park and connectivity. Weakest: edge activation (0). Border-vacuum risk is low. This score is a transparent reading of Jane Jacobs-style vitality factors, not a definitive judgment.
Area · 0.76 ha
What's here
Getting around
No walking paths mapped in OpenStreetMap.
No seating mapped in OpenStreetMap.
Nearest parking 50 m away. None of the 24 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 68%
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 39 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
Orphan'S Green works because its enclosure score (84) is in the top tier and its connectivity (66) is also top quartile (15 mid-rise buildings frame the edge with passive surveillance).
What limits this park
Orphan'S Green is held back by edge activation (0, bottom quartile): the surrounding streets carry too few active uses to spill into the park.
Most distinctive characteristic
Most distinctive feature: exceptionally high enclosure (84, top decile).
Jacobs reading
Orphan'S Green 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 (84) but the surrounding streets are quiet (edge activation 0): frame without animation.
- 7 nearby towers cast wind and shadow without contributing canopy: passive surveillance is plentiful but human-scale comfort is not.
Typology classification
Classified as Parkette: small (7625 m²) with strong building frontage (9.3 per 100 m)
Edge Activation
Within 100 m of the park edge: 18 active uses (retail, restaurant, transit_stop) and 10 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 21 sidewalk segments within 50 m; 24 street intersections within 100 m; 39 transit stops within a 400 m walk; 0 estimated access points across ~602 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 (dog_area). 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: ~8.4% effective canopy (0.0% from contiguous tree polygons + scattered tree density); nearest waterbody ~647 m; 12 city-mapped trees inside the polygon (12.0/ha). Reading: exposed. Source coverage: waterbodies, 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
56 buildings within 25 m of the park edge (15 mid-rise, 34 low-rise, 7 tower); avg edge height 15.5 m (~5 floors); 9.3 buildings per 100 m of 602 m perimeter (strong frontage density); edges are at a Jacobs-scale walkable mid-rise (3 to 7 floors); 7 towers ≥ 40 m within 25 m of the edge. "Eyes on the park" come strongest from the 15 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. 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 (1 types · 2 records)
- dog area
Nearby active-edge features (80)
- retail: Alsie 24 Market31 m
- parking lot50 m
- transit stop: Sackville Street54 m
- parking lot58 m
- parking lot69 m
- retail: Blonde70 m
- parking lot70 m
- retail: Dulux Paints72 m
- retail: Must Societe73 m
- transit stop: Sumach Street75 m
- transit stop: Sackville Street78 m
- retail: Shell Select78 m
- retail: Fix Auto Collision81 m
- parking lot81 m
- retail: King & Parliament Dry Cleaning82 m
- retail: Gallery 40283 m
- parking lot83 m
- parking lot85 m
- parking lot86 m
- retail: Studio B86 m
- transit stop: Richmond Street East86 m
- retail: Roselle88 m
- retail: eco|stems88 m
- retail: 360 Healing Centre92 m
- parking lot92 m
- restaurant: Reyna93 m
- retail: Roche Bobois94 m
- parking lot96 m
- parking lot100 m
- parking lot101 m
- transit stop: Richmond Street East103 m
- retail: Libby's Custom Framing106 m
- retail: Khapco107 m
- transit stop: Adelaide Street East107 m
- restaurant: King Deli-Cafe108 m
- restaurant: 241 Pizza109 m
- cafe: Morning Glory110 m
- retail: Preservation House110 m
- parking lot115 m
- retail: Sherwin-Williams118 m
- retail: Cambria Gallery118 m
- parking lot122 m
- transit stop: Sackville Street124 m
- transit stop: Sumach Street124 m
- transit stop: Sackville Street130 m
- parking lot133 m
- retail: Joseph Head Hair Colour136 m
- retail: Million Rose Flowers137 m
- cafe: Roozamoon Cafe137 m
- transit stop: Queen Street East137 m
- retail: Alexandria printing Services137 m
- retail: 290 Ion139 m
- retail: Consumer Wireless Solutions139 m
- parking lot141 m
- retail: Luxe Appliance Studio141 m
- restaurant: Wood 900 Grill + Bar142 m
- restaurant: The Decoy Bar143 m
- restaurant: The Heritage Cafe & Kitchen144 m
- restaurant: Dejavu144 m
- restaurant: Gilead Café + Wine Bar145 m
- restaurant: Princess Kitchen145 m
- restaurant: King Solomon and Queen of Sheba147 m
- transit stop: Parliament Street151 m
- restaurant: Habibz Corner151 m
- restaurant: Dejavu Lounge152 m
- transit stop: Parliament Street153 m
- retail: Staples156 m
- parking lot158 m
- retail: Ray’s Discount159 m
- retail: Little T Annex Art Gallery160 m
- retail: Volkswagen161 m
- restaurant: Royal Karahi162 m
- transit stop: Parliament Street166 m
- transit stop: King Street East168 m
- parking lot171 m
- parking lot171 m
- restaurant: Poutine House174 m
- retail: Blinds to Go174 m
- transit stop: King Street East176 m
- transit stop: Queen Street East176 m
Park profile
Five-axis radar across the structural dimensions.
Citywide percentile ranks
Across all Toronto parks in the dataset.
- Overall vitality69th
- Edge activation12th
- Connectivity85th
- Amenity diversity55th
- Natural comfort41th
- Enclosure90th
Most similar parks
Closest in metric space across the five structural dimensions.
- Maughan Crescent ParketteUrban Plaza39
- Springhurst ParketteCorridor / Linear Park35
- Windermere Avenue ParketteUrban Plaza40
- Mount Royal ParketteUrban Plaza40
- Turnberry South ParkUrban Plaza39
Most opposite parks
Furthest in metric space. Useful for recognising what kind of park this isn’t.
- Toronto Islands - Island ParkWaterfront Park57
- Arnell PlazaCivic Square50
- Toronto Islands - Muggs Island ParkRavine / Naturalized Park25
- Trca Lands ( 26)Ravine / Naturalized Park27
- Toronto ZooWaterfront Park67
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 Orphan'S Green 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.
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.