Wellesley - Magill Park
Urban Plaza, in the top tier overall (score 51, rank ~94th percentile). Strongest: edge activation; weakest: natural comfort.
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Submit a photoAerial, City of Toronto orthophoto, ~8 cm/px source · cached 5/9/2026
Data updated
Wellesley - Magill Park scores 50.8 / 100. Strongest dimensions: enclosure / eyes on park and edge activation. Weakest: amenity diversity (30.9). Border-vacuum risk is low. This score is a transparent reading of Jane Jacobs-style vitality factors, not a definitive judgment.
Area · 0.32 ha
What's here
Getting around
No walking paths mapped in OpenStreetMap.
Not enough mapped seating to assess (2 benches mapped).
Nearest parking 35 m away. 1 of 21 nearby lots reporting 1 accessible space.
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 66%
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).
Public art in this park
1Forest Walk
Ed Pien, 2011
Sculpture · Corten Steel
Photo: City of Toronto. Source: City of Toronto Public Art
Numbers match the pins on the map. Works near the park are within 30 m of its edge.
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
Wellesley - Magill Park works because its edge activation score (55) is one of the city's strongest and its enclosure (79) is also top quartile (its perimeter is lined with active uses).
What limits this park
.
Most distinctive characteristic
Most distinctive feature: exceptionally high edge activation (55, top decile).
Jacobs reading
Wellesley - Magill Park sits between an urban social park and an ecological retreat: moderately useful for both, exceptionally suited to neither.
Tradeoffs
- 15 nearby towers cast wind and shadow without contributing canopy: passive surveillance is plentiful but human-scale comfort is not.
Performance in context
- A modest overperformer for its urban plaza typology (+9 vs the median in small Urban Plaza).
Typology classification
Classified as Urban Plaza: 3203 m², paved (0% canopy), 22.5 buildings/100 m
Edge Activation
Within 100 m of the park edge: 15 active uses (community, transit_stop, retail, restaurant, cafe) and 2 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: OpenStreetMap: cafes, restaurants, shops, schools, community centres, transit, parking, highways, rail. All data sources.
Connectivity
Connectivity blends paths, intersections, transit, entrances, and edge density. This park has 0 mapped paths/walkways and 5 sidewalk segments within 50 m; 7 street intersections within 100 m; 8 bus stops within a 400 m walk; 0 estimated access points across ~352 m of perimeter. moderate edge density, small superblock penalty applied. Source coverage: centreline, pedestrian_network, transit_osm.
Source: Toronto Centreline V2 + Pedestrian Network + OSM transit stops. All data sources.
Amenity Diversity
3 distinct amenity types in the park (bench, garden, art). Diversity drives the score, so a park with many distinct activity types can outrank a larger park that repeats the same use. 1 public artwork in the park adds a bonus for the number of works.
Source: Toronto Parks & Recreation Facilities + OSM amenity tags. All data sources.
Natural Comfort
Natural-comfort components for this park: ~9.1% effective canopy (0.0% from contiguous tree polygons + scattered tree density); nearest waterbody ~1202 m; 13 city-mapped trees inside the polygon (13.0/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. All data sources.
Enclosure / Eyes on Park
79 buildings within 25 m of the park edge (46 mid-rise, 18 low-rise, 15 tower); avg edge height 32.2 m (~11 floors); 22.5 buildings per 100 m of 352 m perimeter (strong frontage density); edges lean tall but still framed; 15 towers ≥ 40 m within 25 m of the edge. "Eyes on the park" come strongest from the 46 mid-rise edge buildings.
Source: Toronto 3D Massing (building footprints + heights). All data sources.
Border Vacuum Risk
Border-vacuum factors within 50 m of the park: 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: OpenStreetMap: highways, rail, parking. All data sources.
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: Not loaded yet: Toronto Neighbourhood Profiles. All data sources.
Amenities (3 types · 3 records)
- bench
- garden
- art
Nearby active-edge features (49)
- community: Wellesley Community Centre30 m
- parking lot35 m
- parking lot41 m
- transit stop: Wellesley Street East53 m
- cafe: Red Rocket Coffee63 m
- retail: Art City63 m
- retail: Platis Cleaners63 m
- retail: Rabba68 m
- retail: Sherbourne Variety & Gift73 m
- transit stop: Sherbourne Street73 m
- restaurant: Subway75 m
- transit stop: Sherbourne Street76 m
- community: Toronto Public Library - St. James Town77 m
- restaurant: Domino's Pizza78 m
- restaurant: Freshslice Pizza78 m
- transit stop91 m
- transit stop: Wellesley Street East93 m
- retail: Lemay Beauty Salon & Spa113 m
- parking lot115 m
- restaurant: Sarvi Indian Cuisine117 m
- retail: Sweet Addictions123 m
- parking lot126 m
- transit stop: Earl Street131 m
- parking lot132 m
- parking lot135 m
- parking lot135 m
- community: St. James Town Community Corner136 m
- parking lot138 m
- parking lot138 m
- parking lot146 m
- retail: Rosar Morrison Funeral Home & Chapel148 m
- parking lot153 m
- parking lot155 m
- restaurant: Mr. Jerk157 m
- parking lot158 m
- retail: FreshCo162 m
- parking lot163 m
- retail: Becker's164 m
- parking lot165 m
- parking lot173 m
- parking lot180 m
- parking lot181 m
- parking lot186 m
- retail: Smart Access186 m
- transit stop: Jarvis Street187 m
- restaurant: A&W191 m
- parking lot195 m
- retail: First Choice Hair Cutters196 m
- parking lot198 m
Park profile
Five-axis radar across the structural dimensions.
Citywide percentile ranks
Across all Toronto parks in the dataset.
- Overall vitality94th
- Edge activation97th
- Connectivity48th
- Amenity diversity83th
- Natural comfort39th
- Enclosure84th
Most similar parks
Closest in metric space across the five structural dimensions.
- HODGSON PUBLIC SCHOOL - Building GroundsAthletic / Recreation Park47
- Sally Bird ParkUrban Plaza49
- NEW TORONTO SENIORS' CENTRE - Building GroundsUrban Plaza49
- BARBARA FRUM RECREATION CENTRE - Building GroundsUrban Plaza46
- Elijah ParkCorridor / Linear Park55
Most opposite parks
Furthest in metric space. Useful for recognising what kind of park this isn’t.
- Trca Lands ( 26)Ravine / Naturalized Park27
- Rouge ParkRavine / Naturalized Park28
- Toronto Islands - Muggs Island ParkRavine / Naturalized Park26
- Rouge ParkRavine / Naturalized Park26
- Rouge ParkRavine / Naturalized Park21
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 Wellesley - Magill Park 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.
- 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: 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.
- OpenStreetMap (Overpass API)Cafés, restaurants, retail, transit stops, parking, highways, rail.