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Athletic / Recreation Parkcluster ·Walkable Mid-Rise Neighbourhood Parks (large-scale)West Humber-Clairville (1)confidence moderate

Woodbine Racetrack

Athletic / Recreation Park, below average overall (score 28, rank ~21th percentile). Strongest: connectivity; weakest: enclosure.

Woodbine Racetrack scores 27.8 / 100. Strongest dimensions: connectivity and enclosure / eyes on park. Weakest: edge activation (0). Border-vacuum risk is elevated (100). This score is a transparent reading of Jane Jacobs-style vitality factors, not a definitive judgment.

Best fororganised sportactive recreation

Area · 165.98 ha

What's here

Recreation
TennisRunning trackSports court
Vitality Score
28/100

Weighted across six dimensions · confidence 72%

Data Confidence
27.8 / 100
Citywide
21st
of all 3,788 parks
Among Athletic / Recreation Park
7th
same primary typology
Expected for similar parks
37
median in Athletic / Recreation Park (n=155)
Performance gap
-10
raw − expected · context confidence high
modest underperformer

Scores are not bell-curved. Percentiles and expected scores provide context without changing the underlying model.

Loading map…

The parks map is loading.
Street context. Park polygon highlighted on the citywide map.

Boundary: OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).

Explain this score

Where did the 28 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 Activation0 · p60
-12.5
Border Vacuum Risk100 (risk)
-5.0
Amenity Diversity27 · p80
-4.5
Connectivity70 · p91
+3.9
Natural Comfort32 · p16
-2.7
Enclosure / Eyes on Park36 · p6
-1.4

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

Woodbine Racetrack works because its connectivity score (70) is in the top tier and its amenity diversity (27) is also top quartile (17 transit stops sit within a 400 m walk; 27 intersections fall within 100 m of the edge).

What limits this park

Woodbine Racetrack is held back by enclosure (36, bottom quartile); border-vacuum risk is also elevated (100).

Most distinctive characteristic

Most distinctive feature: exceptionally low enclosure (36, bottom quartile).

Jacobs reading

Woodbine Racetrack is currently underperforming on both axes: neither integrated into the city nor offering deep natural respite. A candidate for design intervention.

Tradeoffs

  • Connectivity (70) significantly outpaces natural comfort (32): well placed in the city but offers little shade or ecological respite.
  • High connectivity coexists with high border-vacuum risk (100): much of that connectivity is to highways, rail, or parking lots, not to neighbourhoods.

Performance in context

  • Reads as a modest underperformer relative to comparable parks (gap -10; cohort: Athletic / Recreation Park).

Typology classification

confidence 75%
Athletic / Recreation Parkalso reads as Waterfront Park

Classified as Athletic / Recreation Park: 67% of amenity types are athletic (tennis, track). Secondary read: Waterfront Park (nearest waterbody within ~0 m).

Edge Activation

25% weightpartial 60%
0.0 / 100

Within 100 m of the park edge: 9 active uses (restaurant, transit_stop, cafe) and 62 dead/hostile uses (highway, rail, 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%
69.7 / 100

Connectivity blends paths, intersections, transit, entrances, and edge density. This park has 0 mapped paths/walkways and 58 sidewalk segments within 50 m; 27 street intersections within 100 m; 17 transit stops within a 400 m walk; 9 estimated access points across ~5,868 m of perimeter. low edge density, significant superblock penalty applied. Source coverage: centreline, pedestrian_network, transit_osm.

Streets within 25 m29
Intersections within 100 m27
Paths/walkways (50 m)0
Sidewalk segments (50 m)58
Transit stops (400 m)17
Estimated entrances9
Edge connections / 100 m perimeter0.49
Park perimeter5,868 m

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

Amenity Diversity

20% weightmeasured 75%
27.3 / 100

3 distinct amenity types in the park (other_sport, tennis, track). 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% weightmeasured 75%
32.0 / 100

Natural-comfort components for this park: 0.1% estimated tree canopy; 1.5% water surface; 137 city-mapped trees inside the polygon (0.8/ha). Reading: water-cooled. Source coverage: treed_area, waterbodies, street_trees. Impervious surface is approximated (Toronto's authoritative layer ships only as a raster GeoTIFF).

Canopy coverage0.1%
Canopy area0.21 ha
Inside ravine system0.0%
Water surface inside park1.5%
Nearest water (if outside park)0 m (inside)
Estimated green98.5%
City-mapped trees inside polygon137
Tree density0.8 / ha
Cover diversity (Shannon, 0 to 100)8.0
Sample points used800

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

Enclosure / Eyes on Park

10% weightmeasured 80%
35.6 / 100

72 buildings within 25 m of the park edge (3 mid-rise, 69 low-rise, 0 tower); avg edge height 4.3 m (~1 floors); 1.2 buildings per 100 m of 5,868 m perimeter (thin frontage with significant blank-edge share); edges are barely there or single-storey; no towers immediately adjacent. "Eyes on the park" come strongest from the 3 mid-rise edge buildings.

Buildings within 25 m72
Buildings within 50 m72
Avg edge height4.3 m (~1 floors)
Tallest edge building25.9 m
Mid-rise (3 to 7 floors)3
Low-rise (< 3 floors)69
Towers (≥ 13 floors)0
Frontage density1.23 per 100 m perimeter
Mid-rise share of edge4%
Tower share of edge0%
Blank-edge share (proxy)59%
Park perimeter5,868 m

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

Border Vacuum Risk

10% weightpartial 60%
100.0 risk

Border-vacuum factors within 50 m of the park: Highway 427, Highway 427, Highway 427, Highway 427, Highway 427, Weston Subdivision, parking_lot, parking_lot, Weston Subdivision, Weston Subdivision, parking_lot, GO Transit - Weston Subdivision, rail, rail, Union Pearson Express, Union Pearson Express, Weston Subdivision, Weston Subdivision, rail, rail, Weston Subdivision, Weston Subdivision, Weston Subdivision, Weston Subdivision, Union Pearson Express, rail, rail, rail, Weston Subdivision, Weston Subdivision, Weston Subdivision, Weston Subdivision, Weston Subdivision, GO Transit Weston Subdivision, Weston Subdivision, Woodbine Racetrack, Woodbine Racetrack, parking_lot, parking_lot, parking_lot, parking_lot, parking_lot, parking_lot, parking_lot, Weston Subdivision, GO Transit Weston Subdivision, Weston Subdivision, Weston Subdivision, Weston Subdivision, Weston Subdivision, Weston Subdivision, 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

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 (3 types · 10 records)

  • other sport
  • tennis
  • track

Nearby active-edge features (80)

  • parking lot0 m
  • parking lot0 m
  • parking lot0 m
  • restaurant0 m
  • cafe: Tim Hortons0 m
  • transit stop: Woodbine Race Track Loop0 m
  • parking lot: Woodbine Racetrack0 m
  • parking lot: Woodbine Racetrack0 m
  • parking lot0 m
  • parking lot0 m
  • parking lot0 m
  • parking lot0 m
  • parking lot0 m
  • parking lot0 m
  • parking lot0 m
  • parking lot0 m
  • parking lot0 m
  • parking lot0 m
  • parking lot0 m
  • parking lot0 m
  • highway: Highway 42718 m
  • rail: Weston Subdivision19 m
  • rail: Weston Subdivision20 m
  • rail21 m
  • rail21 m
  • rail22 m
  • rail22 m
  • rail: Weston Subdivision22 m
  • rail: Weston Subdivision22 m
  • rail23 m
  • rail24 m
  • highway: Highway 42725 m
  • rail: Weston Subdivision25 m
  • rail: Weston Subdivision25 m
  • rail: Weston Subdivision26 m
  • highway: Highway 42726 m
  • rail: Weston Subdivision26 m
  • rail: Weston Subdivision27 m
  • rail: Union Pearson Express27 m
  • rail27 m
  • rail: Weston Subdivision29 m
  • rail: Weston Subdivision29 m
  • rail: Weston Subdivision29 m
  • rail: Weston Subdivision30 m
  • rail: Weston Subdivision30 m
  • rail: Weston Subdivision30 m
  • rail: Weston Subdivision30 m
  • rail: Weston Subdivision31 m
  • rail: Union Pearson Express32 m
  • rail: GO Transit - Weston Subdivision32 m
  • rail: Weston Subdivision33 m
  • rail: Union Pearson Express33 m
  • rail: Weston Subdivision34 m
  • rail: Weston Subdivision34 m
  • rail: Weston Subdivision35 m
  • rail: GO Transit Weston Subdivision36 m
  • rail: GO Transit Weston Subdivision40 m
  • transit stop: Rexdale Boulevard At Woodbine Centre43 m
  • highway: Highway 42747 m
  • highway: Highway 42749 m
  • highway: Highway 42753 m
  • rail: Pearson Subdivision61 m
  • parking lot67 m
  • rail: Pearson Subdivision67 m
  • rail: GO Transit Weston Subdivision68 m
  • cafe: Tim Hortons69 m
  • transit stop: Queen's Plate Drive at Rexdale Boulevard80 m
  • restaurant: Noodlebox82 m
  • restaurant: Pizzaiolo91 m
  • transit stop: Queen's Plate Dr at Rexdale Blvd92 m
  • highway: Highway 42795 m
  • transit stop: Rexdale Boulevard At Woodbine Centre101 m
  • restaurant: Big Smoke Burger101 m
  • transit stop102 m
  • highway: Highway 27107 m
  • highway: Highway 27108 m
  • highway: Highway 27110 m
  • parking lot110 m
  • restaurant: MB Chicken Express110 m
  • highway: Highway 27111 m

Park profile

Five-axis radar across the structural dimensions.

Edge ActivationConnectivityAmenity DiversityNatural ComfortEnclosureWoodbine Racetrack
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
    21th
  • Edge activation
    60th
  • Connectivity
    91th
  • Amenity diversity
    80th
  • Natural comfort
    16th
  • Enclosure
    6th

Most similar parks

Closest in metric space across the five structural dimensions.

Most opposite parks

Furthest in metric space. Useful for recognising what kind of park this isn’t.

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 Woodbine Racetrackmatters. 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.

Rate this park on as many dimensions as you have an opinion about. 1 = not at all, 5 = strongly. Skip the ones you don't feel sure about. Aggregated only, no comments stored at the row level.

feels socially active
feels comfortable
feels safe
feels connected
feels welcoming
feels ecological / natural
feels good for lingering
feels family-friendly
feels culturally important
70%

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.
  • Encourage mid-rise, windowed frontages around the park so residents have direct sightlines onto it.
  • 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

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.