Joseph Burr Tyrrell Park
Urban Plaza, one of the city's strongest overall (score 50, rank ~95th percentile). Strongest: enclosure; weakest: connectivity.
Aerial — City of Toronto orthophoto, ~8 cm/px source · cached 5/9/2026
Joseph Burr Tyrrell Park scores 50 / 100. Strongest dimensions: enclosure / eyes on park and edge activation. 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.
Area · 0.12 ha
Weighted across six dimensions · confidence 61%
Scores are not bell-curved. Percentiles and expected scores provide context without changing the underlying model.
Explain this score
Where did the 50 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
Performance in context
- This park is a strong overperformer for its cohort — raw 50 versus an expected 36 for similar parks (pocket Urban Plaza) (gap +14).
Typology classification
Classified as Urban Plaza: 1156 m², paved (0% canopy), 58.1 buildings/100 m
Edge Activation
Within 100 m of the park edge: 55 active uses (retail, restaurant, cafe, transit_stop, school) and 2 dead/hostile uses (parking_lot, highway). 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 0 sidewalk segments within 50 m; 3 street intersections within 100 m; 26 transit stops within a 400 m walk; 0 estimated access points across ~145 m of perimeter. low edge density — significant superblock penalty applied. Source coverage: centreline, transit_osm.
Source: Toronto Centreline V2 + Pedestrian Network + OSM transit stops
Amenity Diversity
1 distinct amenity types in the park (playground). 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: 0.0% estimated tree canopy; 1 city-mapped trees inside the polygon (1.0/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
84 buildings within 25 m of the park edge (26 mid-rise, 56 low-rise, 2 tower); avg edge height 9.2 m (~3 floors); 58.1 buildings per 100 m of 145 m perimeter — strong frontage density; edges are at a Jacobs-scale walkable mid-rise (3–7 floors); 2 towers ≥ 40 m within 25 m of the edge. "Eyes on the park" come strongest from the 26 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 (1 types · 1 records)
- playground
Nearby active-edge features (80)
- retail41 m
- retail — Thunderstruck Books41 m
- retail — Alex Cuts42 m
- retail42 m
- restaurant — Fresh Kitchen + Juice Bar43 m
- restaurant — The Chulo44 m
- retail — Esu Massage Therapy44 m
- retail — Casa Lugo45 m
- retail46 m
- retail — Triton46 m
- restaurant — Blanco Cantina50 m
- transit stop51 m
- parking lot51 m
- restaurant — Freshii54 m
- restaurant — Scotty Bons56 m
- restaurant — Belly Buster57 m
- retail — Ollie Quinn60 m
- restaurant — Burger's Priest62 m
- restaurant — Vietnam Lovely Noodle63 m
- restaurant — Fuwa Fuwa Japanese Pancakes65 m
- restaurant — St. Louis Bar & Grill68 m
- transit stop69 m
- restaurant — El Furniture Warehouse69 m
- retail — Runners Shop72 m
- retail — Curbside Cycle76 m
- cafe — Palgong Tea76 m
- restaurant — Kenzo Ramen78 m
- retail — BMV Cafe78 m
- retail — BMV Books79 m
- restaurant — Future Bistro79 m
- restaurant — Myeongdong79 m
- retail — Value Village Boutique79 m
- restaurant — Indian Desire79 m
- retail — Knob Hill Cleaners80 m
- retail — Sleep Country80 m
- restaurant — Pizzaiolo80 m
- retail — Annex Psyhic81 m
- retail — Green Vibe81 m
- restaurant — Brown Donkatsu81 m
- retail — COBS Bread82 m
- cafe — M Chá Bar84 m
- retail — Piya's Boutique85 m
- school — Spirit of Math86 m
- restaurant — So Famous87 m
- restaurant — Monkey Sushi Restaurant87 m
- cafe — Cong90 m
- restaurant — Souvlaki Place90 m
- restaurant — Sushi Maido92 m
- retail92 m
- highway — Bloor Street West93 m
- restaurant — Burrito Bandidos93 m
- retail — Juxtapose Cards & Gifts94 m
- restaurant — The lab94 m
- retail — 420 Zone Inc97 m
- restaurant — Ghazale97 m
- retail — Annex Photo98 m
- retail — relocation99 m
- highway — Bloor Street West101 m
- retail — Wiener's Home Hardware101 m
- parking lot101 m
- restaurant — Raffaella106 m
- restaurant — Wild Wing106 m
- retail — fixt106 m
- cafe — Simit-Chi106 m
- transit stop — Walmer Road108 m
- restaurant — Victory Cafe110 m
- parking lot113 m
- retail — Bulk Barn115 m
- restaurant — The Green Room116 m
- highway — Bloor Street West116 m
- restaurant — Annex Billiard Club120 m
- restaurant — Mezcalero125 m
- retail — Seekers Books125 m
- community129 m
- cafe — Slanted Door132 m
- cafe — Wildhearts Cafe138 m
- highway — Bloor Street West141 m
- restaurant — Crafty Coyote143 m
- parking lot145 m
- restaurant — Nang Saigon146 m
Park profile
Five-axis radar across the structural dimensions.
Citywide percentile ranks
Across all Toronto parks in the dataset.
- Overall vitality95th
- Edge activation99th
- Connectivity11th
- Amenity diversity73th
- Natural comfort14th
- Enclosure100th
Most similar parks
Closest in metric space across the five structural dimensions.
- Hto Park WestCorridor / Linear Park45
- City Wide Open SpaceUrban Plaza43
- Lillian H. Smith ParkUrban Plaza47
- Hto Park WestCorridor / Linear Park43
- Bernard Avenue Road AllowanceUrban Plaza54
Most opposite parks
Furthest in metric space — useful for recognising what kind of park this isn’t.
- Rouge ParkRavine / Naturalized Park28
- Rouge ParkWaterfront Park31
- Rouge ParkWaterfront Park25
- Sir Casimir Gzowski ParkWaterfront Park33
- Trca Lands ( 26)Ravine / Naturalized Park27
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 Joseph Burr Tyrrell Parkmatters. 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.
- Add or open more entrances and improve sidewalk continuity around the park. More permeability means more spontaneous use.
- 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.