
North Keelesdale Park
Ravine / Naturalized Park, below average overall (score 27, rank ~18th percentile). Strongest: amenity diversity; weakest: enclosure.
Aerial, City of Toronto orthophoto, ~8 cm/px source · cached 5/9/2026
North Keelesdale Park scores 27 / 100. Strongest dimensions: connectivity and natural comfort. 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.
Area · 5.82 ha
What's here
Weighted across six dimensions · confidence 72%
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).
Explain this score
Where did the 27 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
North Keelesdale Park works because its amenity diversity score (21) is above average and its connectivity (57) is also above-average.
What limits this park
North Keelesdale Park is held back by enclosure (35, bottom quartile); border-vacuum risk is also elevated (100).
Most distinctive characteristic
Most distinctive feature: exceptionally low enclosure (35, bottom quartile).
Jacobs reading
North Keelesdale Park is currently underperforming on both axes: neither integrated into the city nor offering deep natural respite. A candidate for design intervention.
Performance in context
- Reads as a modest underperformer relative to comparable parks (gap -10; cohort: large Ravine / Naturalized Park ravine).
Typology classification
Classified as Ravine / Naturalized Park: 100% ravine overlap, 6% canopy. Secondary read: Waterfront Park (nearest waterbody within ~0 m).
Edge Activation
Within 100 m of the park edge: 3 active uses (transit_stop) and 35 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
Connectivity blends paths, intersections, transit, entrances, and edge density. This park has 0 mapped paths/walkways and 26 sidewalk segments within 50 m; 7 street intersections within 100 m; 38 transit stops within a 400 m walk; 0 estimated access points across ~1,604 m of perimeter. low edge density, significant superblock penalty applied. Source coverage: centreline, pedestrian_network, transit_osm.
Source: Toronto Centreline V2 + Pedestrian Network + OSM transit stops
Amenity Diversity
2 distinct amenity types in the park (sports_field, washroom). 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: ~8.2% effective canopy (5.9% from contiguous tree polygons + scattered tree density); 100.0% inside the ravine system; 2.0% water surface; 68 city-mapped trees inside the polygon (11.7/ha). Reading: ravine-cooled. Source coverage: treed_area, ravine, 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
Enclosure / Eyes on Park
11 buildings within 25 m of the park edge (2 mid-rise, 9 low-rise, 0 tower); avg edge height 6.5 m (~2 floors); 0.7 buildings per 100 m of 1,604 m perimeter (thin frontage with significant blank-edge share); edges are low-rise (mostly 2 to 3 floors); no towers immediately adjacent. "Eyes on the park" come strongest from the 2 mid-rise edge buildings.
Source: Toronto 3D Massing (building footprints + heights)
Border Vacuum Risk
Border-vacuum factors within 50 m of the park: Eglinton Avenue West, Eglinton Avenue West, Eglinton Avenue West, Eglinton Avenue West, Eglinton Avenue West, Black Creek Drive, Eglinton Avenue West, Eglinton Avenue West, Black Creek Drive, Black Creek Drive, Line 5 Eglinton, Line 5 Eglinton, Eglinton Avenue West, Eglinton Avenue West, parking_lot, Black Creek Drive, Black Creek Drive, Black Creek Drive, Black Creek Drive, Black Creek Drive, Black Creek Drive, Black Creek Drive. 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
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 (2 types · 3 records)
- sports field
- washroom
Nearby active-edge features (72)
- highway: Black Creek Drive6 m
- highway: Black Creek Drive7 m
- highway: Black Creek Drive8 m
- highway: Black Creek Drive10 m
- rail: Line 5 Eglinton18 m
- highway: Black Creek Drive21 m
- highway: Black Creek Drive21 m
- highway: Black Creek Drive21 m
- rail: Line 5 Eglinton22 m
- transit stop: Eglinton Avenue at Black Creek Drive22 m
- highway: Black Creek Drive23 m
- highway: Eglinton Avenue West24 m
- highway: Eglinton Avenue West29 m
- highway: Eglinton Avenue West32 m
- parking lot32 m
- highway: Eglinton Avenue West33 m
- highway: Eglinton Avenue West35 m
- highway: Eglinton Avenue West36 m
- transit stop: Eglinton Avenue West37 m
- highway: Eglinton Avenue West43 m
- highway: Eglinton Avenue West45 m
- highway: Eglinton Avenue West46 m
- highway: Black Creek Drive46 m
- highway: Black Creek Drive46 m
- highway: Black Creek Drive52 m
- highway: Eglinton Avenue West54 m
- rail: Line 5 Eglinton55 m
- rail: Line 5 Eglinton56 m
- highway: Black Creek Drive61 m
- parking lot66 m
- parking lot70 m
- highway: Eglinton Avenue West75 m
- rail: Line 5 Eglinton78 m
- parking lot78 m
- transit stop: Eglinton Avenue at Black Creek Drive86 m
- highway: Eglinton Avenue West87 m
- highway: Eglinton Avenue West87 m
- parking lot91 m
- highway: Black Creek Drive100 m
- parking lot105 m
- transit stop: Todd Baylis Boulevard110 m
- parking lot121 m
- parking lot136 m
- highway: Eglinton Avenue West140 m
- transit stop: Trethewey Drive146 m
- parking lot148 m
- highway: Eglinton Avenue West149 m
- parking lot152 m
- rail: Line 5 Eglinton152 m
- rail: Line 5 Eglinton155 m
- parking lot164 m
- parking lot164 m
- parking lot165 m
- transit stop: Todd Baylis Boulevard165 m
- rail168 m
- transit stop: Keelesdale Road at Eglinton Avenue West170 m
- rail170 m
- parking lot170 m
- parking lot170 m
- parking lot170 m
- parking lot172 m
- highway: Black Creek Drive172 m
- rail: Line 5 Eglinton172 m
- rail: Line 5 Eglinton172 m
- rail184 m
- rail191 m
- highway: Eglinton Avenue West191 m
- transit stop: Trethewey Dr at Paulson Rd192 m
- rail193 m
- transit stop: Keelesdale Road at Eglinton Avenue West193 m
- rail193 m
- parking lot196 m
Park profile
Five-axis radar across the structural dimensions.
Citywide percentile ranks
Across all Toronto parks in the dataset.
- Overall vitality18th
- Edge activation40th
- Connectivity72th
- Amenity diversity73th
- Natural comfort68th
- Enclosure6th
Most similar parks
Closest in metric space across the five structural dimensions.
- Humber ArboretumWaterfront Park30
- Sunnyside Bike ParkCorridor / Linear Park30
- GEORGE S. HENRY ACADEMY - Building GroundsOther32
- Humber River WatercourseWaterfront Park29
- Thorncliffe Allotment GardensOther33
Most opposite parks
Furthest in metric space. Useful for recognising what kind of park this isn’t.
- Leslie Grove ParkParkette73
- ALEX WILSON COMMUNITY GARDEN - Open Green SpaceUrban Plaza59
- Market Lane ParkUrban Plaza67
- Bernard Avenue Road AllowanceUrban Plaza57
- Shaw ParkParkette69
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 North Keelesdale 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.
- 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.
- 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
- 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 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.