HARRISON POOL - Building Grounds
Urban Plaza, one of the city's strongest overall (score 51, rank ~96th percentile). Strongest: enclosure; weakest: natural comfort.
Aerial — City of Toronto orthophoto, ~8 cm/px source · cached 5/9/2026
HARRISON POOL - Building Grounds scores 51 / 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.
Area · 0.07 ha
Weighted across six dimensions · confidence 65%
Scores are not bell-curved. Percentiles and expected scores provide context without changing the underlying model.
Explain this score
Where did the 51 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 (65) significantly outpaces natural comfort (22) — well placed in the city but offers little shade or ecological respite.
- 5 nearby towers cast wind and shadow without contributing canopy — passive surveillance is plentiful but human-scale comfort is not.
Performance in context
- This park is a strong overperformer for its cohort — raw 51 versus an expected 36 for similar parks (pocket Urban Plaza) (gap +15).
Typology classification
Classified as Urban Plaza: 738 m², paved (0% canopy), 43.6 buildings/100 m
Edge Activation
Within 100 m of the park edge: 24 active uses (cafe, restaurant, transit_stop, retail) and 3 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 13 mapped paths/walkways and 12 sidewalk segments within 50 m; 18 street intersections within 100 m; 21 transit stops within a 400 m walk; 0 estimated access points across ~124 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 (community_centre). 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; nearest waterbody ~1384 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
54 buildings within 25 m of the park edge (35 mid-rise, 14 low-rise, 5 tower); avg edge height 18.5 m (~6 floors); 43.6 buildings per 100 m of 124 m perimeter — strong frontage density; edges are at a Jacobs-scale walkable mid-rise (3–7 floors); 5 towers ≥ 40 m within 25 m of the edge. "Eyes on the park" come strongest from the 35 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" — they 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 · 1 records)
- community centre
Nearby active-edge features (80)
- retail — June Hairdresser On Fire6 m
- parking lot47 m
- retail — Umbra50 m
- transit stop — Stephanie Street58 m
- cafe — Tuck Shop Provisions63 m
- cafe — Thor Espresso63 m
- restaurant — Yakiniku Legend66 m
- retail — Get Me Fly71 m
- retail — Ye Perfect Nail & Spa74 m
- restaurant — Salad King74 m
- retail — Queen Dry Cleaners76 m
- restaurant — Oh My Gyro!79 m
- retail — OCAD U Copy & Print Services79 m
- parking lot80 m
- retail — New Tribe Tattooing and Piercings83 m
- restaurant — Naan Kabob87 m
- restaurant — Queen Street Warehouse88 m
- retail — Dragon Vape90 m
- retail — BMV Books91 m
- restaurant — Alpha’s Shawarma91 m
- restaurant — German Doner Kebab92 m
- retail — Tribal Rhythm93 m
- retail — New You Spa93 m
- parking lot94 m
- cafe — Nord Lyon Cafe94 m
- retail — Aux Merveilleux95 m
- retail — Star Vape97 m
- transit stop — John Street104 m
- retail — Gardenview Convenience107 m
- restaurant — Holy Cow Steakhouse114 m
- retail — Opteaq Eyecare117 m
- parking lot117 m
- transit stop — John Street119 m
- restaurant — Korean Grill House123 m
- retail — OD125 m
- retail — Stag Shop127 m
- cafe — Mizzica Cafe128 m
- retail — Civello Aveda130 m
- retail — Rendez Vous130 m
- restaurant — Ema-Tei Authentic Japanese Food131 m
- retail — Scarpino131 m
- retail — St. Patrick's Mini Market132 m
- restaurant — Atomy134 m
- restaurant — Queen Mother Cafe135 m
- parking lot — MuchMusic/CTV Parking136 m
- restaurant — Subway140 m
- retail — Toni & Guy142 m
- restaurant — Niuda142 m
- restaurant — Aristos142 m
- retail — Clearly143 m
- restaurant — Touhenboku Ramen146 m
- retail — The Hunny Pot146 m
- retail — Change147 m
- retail — Man Stop Barber147 m
- restaurant — The Bombay151 m
- restaurant — Daily Press Juicery152 m
- restaurant — Rudy152 m
- retail — Carolyn McAuley Hair Studio152 m
- restaurant — Chipotle154 m
- restaurant — Ikkousha Ramen155 m
- restaurant — The Friar and Firkin156 m
- retail — So Hip157 m
- retail — Hunny Pot Cannabis158 m
- retail — Groovy158 m
- parking lot159 m
- restaurant — Little India159 m
- restaurant — Shah’s Halal Food159 m
- restaurant — Sushi Time161 m
- retail162 m
- cafe — Tim Hortons165 m
- restaurant — Ikkousha Ramen168 m
- retail — Cori170 m
- retail — Kintaro Tattoo172 m
- restaurant — Chick Queen172 m
- retail — LCBO172 m
- retail — Cheers Smoke Shop172 m
- cafe — HotBlack Coffee174 m
- cafe — Wonder Pet Cafe176 m
- restaurant — The Sandwich Table181 m
- restaurant — The Rex Jazz & Blues Bar181 m
Park profile
Five-axis radar across the structural dimensions.
Citywide percentile ranks
Across all Toronto parks in the dataset.
- Overall vitality96th
- Edge activation97th
- Connectivity82th
- Amenity diversity74th
- Natural comfort0th
- Enclosure99th
Most similar parks
Closest in metric space across the five structural dimensions.
- Boswell ParketteUrban Plaza48
- Roxborough - Yonge St Traffic IslandUrban Plaza43
- City Wide Open SpaceUrban Plaza47
- QUEEN STREET PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH GROUNDS - Building GroundsUrban Plaza44
- Hto Park WestUrban Plaza49
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
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 HARRISON POOL - 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.
- 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.