ALEX WILSON COMMUNITY GARDEN - Open Green Space
Urban Plaza, one of the city's strongest overall (score 59, rank ~99th percentile). Strongest: edge activation; weakest: natural comfort.
Photo by Darcy via Google Places · cached 5/9/2026
ALEX WILSON COMMUNITY GARDEN - Open Green Space scores 58.5 / 100. Strongest dimensions: enclosure / eyes on park and edge activation. Weakest: amenity diversity (0). Border-vacuum risk is low. This score is a transparent reading of Jane Jacobs-style vitality factors — not a definitive judgment.
Area · 0.03 ha
Weighted across six dimensions · confidence 56%
Scores are not bell-curved. Percentiles and expected scores provide context without changing the underlying model.
Street context
Park polygon highlighted on the citywide map. Connectivity, transit, and edge conditions read at a glance.
Top-down view
City of Toronto orthophoto, ~8 cm/px. Reads the park’s footprint, paths, treed area, and edge conditions from above.
City of Toronto Orthophoto · cot_ortho most-current MapServer
Explain this score
Where did the 59 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
What limits this park
Most distinctive characteristic
Jacobs reading
Tradeoffs
- Connectivity (78) significantly outpaces natural comfort (23) — well placed in the city but offers little shade or ecological respite.
- 16 nearby towers cast wind and shadow without contributing canopy — passive surveillance is plentiful but human-scale comfort is not.
- Strong physical conditions (score 59) but weak observed activity signals (9) — the model says this should work, but events, mentions, and counters say it isn't being used at the level the urban form would predict.
- High connectivity (78) coexists with little programming evidence — easy to reach, but no recurring civic life detected.
Performance in context
- This park is a strong overperformer for its cohort — raw 59 versus an expected 36 for similar parks (pocket Urban Plaza) (gap +22).
Typology classification
Classified as Urban Plaza: 311 m², paved (0% canopy), 64.0 buildings/100 m
Edge Activation
Within 100 m of the park edge: 49 active uses (retail, restaurant, cafe, transit_stop) and 1 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 17 mapped paths/walkways and 24 sidewalk segments within 50 m; 15 street intersections within 100 m; 22 transit stops within a 400 m walk; 2 estimated access points across ~80 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
No amenities recorded — score is 0 until inventory is loaded.
Source: Toronto Parks & Recreation Facilities + OSM amenity tags
Natural Comfort
Natural-comfort components for this park: 0.0% estimated tree canopy; nearest waterbody ~1246 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
64 buildings within 25 m of the park edge (30 mid-rise, 18 low-rise, 16 tower); avg edge height 19.6 m (~7 floors); 64.0 buildings per 100 m of 80 m perimeter — strong frontage density; edges are at a Jacobs-scale walkable mid-rise (3–7 floors); 16 towers ≥ 40 m within 25 m of the edge. "Eyes on the park" come strongest from the 30 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 (0)
No amenities recorded for this park.
Nearby active-edge features (80)
- cafe — Fahrenheit Coffee26 m
- restaurant — Bar Altura34 m
- retail — Brosche Bridal35 m
- restaurant — Rosie’s Burger36 m
- retail — Third Floor Tailors37 m
- retail — Mokuba39 m
- retail — The Cabinet Salon40 m
- retail — Comfort Nails42 m
- retail — PC Shop Computers43 m
- retail — Outer Layer43 m
- retail — The Dot45 m
- retail — Freshly Baked Tees51 m
- retail — On Your Face Optical54 m
- restaurant — La Palette58 m
- restaurant — Comma58 m
- retail — Brothers Convenience58 m
- retail — Sobr Market Richmond59 m
- restaurant — I Love Sushi59 m
- retail — Gas Station59 m
- retail59 m
- retail — Queen Vape Shop59 m
- retail — Winners59 m
- retail — Organic Nail Bar60 m
- retail — Get Fresh Company61 m
- restaurant — DeMen Bistro63 m
- retail — Loblaws64 m
- restaurant — Wendy's66 m
- retail — Roma Rush66 m
- retail — Natural Foods68 m
- restaurant — The Well Bar Restaurant69 m
- retail — Joe Fresh69 m
- retail — Fresh Picked Fresh Produce & Flowers70 m
- parking lot71 m
- retail72 m
- restaurant — Il Vegano72 m
- restaurant — Saku74 m
- retail — Digitime Custom Tees75 m
- retail — Hi Beads77 m
- restaurant — Tequila Bookworm78 m
- retail — Uncle Terry’s79 m
- retail — Mama Loves You Vintage80 m
- retail — West Camera81 m
- restaurant — BarChef82 m
- restaurant — Java House85 m
- retail — The Denizen85 m
- retail — The Beadery85 m
- retail89 m
- transit stop — Augusta Avenue90 m
- restaurant — Lee Restaurant92 m
- retail — Area Rug Shop95 m
- parking lot110 m
- retail — GNC112 m
- retail — Value Buds115 m
- transit stop — Augusta Avenue119 m
- restaurant — Drom Taberna122 m
- retail — CTE Vapes123 m
- retail — Cosmos Records125 m
- parking lot — Augusta Parking126 m
- retail — Old Times Antiques127 m
- retail — Affordable Textiles128 m
- restaurant — Raku130 m
- restaurant — Ramen Isshin131 m
- retail — Wool House135 m
- restaurant — Osmow's135 m
- retail — Fabric by Designers138 m
- retail138 m
- retail138 m
- retail — Vape29139 m
- cafe — Early Bird140 m
- retail — Arton Beads142 m
- restaurant — Osteria Du143 m
- parking lot144 m
- retail — Off the Wall145 m
- retail149 m
- parking lot149 m
- retail — Bling Bling On Queen150 m
- parking lot150 m
- restaurant — The Dime Roadhouse151 m
- restaurant — Campechano Taqueria153 m
- cafe — Forget Me Not Cafe156 m
Park profile
Five-axis radar across the structural dimensions.
Citywide percentile ranks
Across all Toronto parks in the dataset.
- Overall vitality99th
- Edge activation100th
- Connectivity97th
- Amenity diversity67th
- Natural comfort1th
- Enclosure98th
Most similar parks
Closest in metric space across the five structural dimensions.
- Norman Jewison ParkUrban Plaza57
- Grace - College ParketteCorridor / Linear Park59
- Graham ParkUrban Plaza54
- Asquith Green ParkUrban Plaza55
- Sonya'S ParkUrban Plaza60
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 ParkWaterfront Park25
- Rouge ParkRavine / Naturalized Park26
Visitor signals
Public attention measured by Google Places aggregates. This proxies attention, not occupancy. Aggregate-only — no usernames, no review text, no extra photos beyond the cached hero.
p72 citywide · p77 within Urban Plaza
Source: Google Places API · match unverified (0.00 composite confidence) · last refreshed 5/9/2026. Privacy contract. Measures public attention, not occupancy.
Human activity signals
Programming, social attention, temporal rhythm, and nearby pedestrian / cycling flow. An experimental aggregate layer that complements the spatial scores — partial coverage, partial confidence.
Activity reading: no inputs available. The strongest signal is public attention / mentions. Source coverage: google-places.
Does this score feel accurate?
Your read of ALEX WILSON COMMUNITY GARDEN - Open Green Spacematters. 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.
- 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 — Parks (Green Space)Polygon boundaries, official names, types.
- 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.