Neighbourhood Parkcluster ·Active-edged · exposed parksDownsview-Roding-CFB (26)confidence moderatereal Toronto data

Downsview Subway Station Green

Neighbourhood Park, middle of the pack overall (score 38, rank ~67th percentile). Strongest: edge activation; weakest: amenity diversity.

Aerial — City of Toronto orthophoto, ~8 cm/px source · cached 5/9/2026

Downsview Subway Station Green scores 37.9 / 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.

Best for:daily urban life

Area · 1.13 ha

Vitality Score

38/100

Weighted across six dimensions · confidence 59%

Data Confidence

37.9 / 100

Citywide

67th

of all 3,273 parks

Among Neighbourhood Park

54th

same primary typology

Expected for similar parks

median in medium Neighbourhood Park (n=363)

Performance gap

raw − expected · context confidence high

typical

Scores are not bell-curved. Percentiles and expected scores provide context without changing the underlying model.

Explain this score

Where did the 38 come from? Each weighted contribution against a neutral 50 baseline. Green = pushed up; red = pulled down.

Download JSON

What pushed this score up or down vs a neutral 50weight × score

Amenity Diversity0 · p8

-10.0

Border Vacuum Risk12 (risk)

+3.8

Connectivity33 · p23

-3.4

Natural Comfort35 · p22

-2.2

Edge Activation45 · p94

-1.3

Enclosure / Eyes on Park60 · p36

+1.0

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

Downsview Subway Station Green works because its edge activation score (45) is in the top tier.

What limits this park

Downsview Subway Station Green is held back by amenity diversity (0, bottom quartile).

Most distinctive characteristic

Most distinctive feature: exceptionally high edge activation (45, top decile).

Jacobs reading

Downsview Subway Station Green sits between an urban social park and an ecological retreat — moderately useful for both, exceptionally suited to neither.

Typology classification

confidence 70%

Neighbourhood Park

Classified as Neighbourhood Park: 1.1 ha, framed by 2 mid-rise vs 0 towers

Edge Activation

25% weightpartial 60%

44.9 / 100

Within 100 m of the park edge: 20 active uses (transit_stop, retail) and 4 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

20% weightmeasured 85%

33.0 / 100

Connectivity blends paths, intersections, transit, entrances, and edge density. This park has 0 mapped paths/walkways and 7 sidewalk segments within 50 m; 1 street intersections within 100 m; 31 transit stops within a 400 m walk; 0 estimated access points across ~449 m of perimeter. low edge density — significant superblock penalty applied. Source coverage: centreline, pedestrian_network, transit_osm.

Streets within 25 m0

Intersections within 100 m1

Paths/walkways (50 m)0

Sidewalk segments (50 m)7

Transit stops (400 m)31

Estimated entrances0

Edge connections / 100 m perimeter0.00

Park perimeter449 m

Source: Toronto Centreline V2 + Pedestrian Network + OSM transit stops

Amenity Diversity

20% weightinferred 30%

0.0 / 100

No amenities recorded — score is 0 until inventory is loaded.

Source: Toronto Parks & Recreation Facilities + OSM amenity tags

Natural Comfort

15% weightpartial 45%

35.1 / 100

Natural-comfort components for this park: ~1.9% effective canopy (0.0% from contiguous tree polygons + scattered tree density); nearest waterbody ~745 m; 3 city-mapped trees inside the polygon (2.7/ha). Reading: exposed. Source coverage: waterbodies, street_trees. Impervious surface is approximated (Toronto's authoritative layer ships only as a raster GeoTIFF).

Canopy coverage0.0%

Canopy area0.00 ha

Inside ravine system0.0%

Water surface inside park0.0%

Nearest water (if outside park)745 m

Estimated green100.0%

City-mapped trees inside polygon3

Tree density2.7 / ha

Cover diversity (Shannon, 0–100)0.0

Sample points used79

Source: Toronto Treed Area + Ravine + Waterbodies + Street Tree Inventory

Enclosure / Eyes on Park

10% weightmeasured 80%

60.4 / 100

13 buildings within 25 m of the park edge (2 mid-rise, 11 low-rise, 0 tower); avg edge height 7.1 m (~2 floors); 2.9 buildings per 100 m of 449 m perimeter — moderate frontage density; edges are low-rise (mostly 2–3 floors); no towers immediately adjacent. "Eyes on the park" come strongest from the 2 mid-rise edge buildings.

Buildings within 25 m13

Buildings within 50 m13

Avg edge height7.1 m (~2 floors)

Tallest edge building24.0 m

Mid-rise (3–7 floors)2

Low-rise (< 3 floors)11

Towers (≥ 13 floors)0

Frontage density2.89 per 100 m perimeter

Mid-rise share of edge15%

Tower share of edge0%

Blank-edge share (proxy)4%

Park perimeter449 m

Source: Toronto 3D Massing (building footprints + heights)

Border Vacuum Risk

10% weightpartial 60%

12.0 risk

Border-vacuum factors within 50 m of the park: Passenger pick up/drop off. 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

contextinferred 15%

50.0 / 100

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 (39)

transit stop — Passenger PU/DO9 m
parking lot — Passenger pick up/drop off20 m
transit stop — Sheppard West Station44 m
transit stop — Sheppard West Station47 m
transit stop — Sheppard Avenue at Dufferin Street49 m
transit stop — Sheppard West Station50 m
transit stop — Sheppard West - North Side52 m
transit stop — Sheppard West Station59 m
transit stop — Sheppard West - South Entrance59 m
transit stop — Sheppard Ave W at Banting Ave60 m
transit stop — Sheppard West Station64 m
transit stop — Sheppard West66 m
retail — Menorah67 m
parking lot67 m
transit stop — Sheppard West Station70 m
transit stop — Sheppard West Station70 m
parking lot70 m
transit stop — Sheppard West Station73 m
transit stop — Sheppard West74 m
transit stop — Sheppard West Station76 m
transit stop — Sheppard West Station77 m
transit stop — Sheppard West Station86 m
transit stop — Sheppard West Station97 m
parking lot98 m
transit stop — Allen Road at Sheppard Avenue101 m
transit stop — Sheppard West Station102 m
highway — Allen Road115 m
transit stop — Sheppard Avenue at Banting Ave132 m
highway — Allen Road133 m
transit stop — Allen Road at Sheppard Avenue South Side143 m
rail148 m
rail149 m
transit stop — Sheppard Avenue at Allen Road160 m
transit stop — Sheppard Avenue at Allen Road West Side161 m
highway — Allen Road168 m
highway — Allen Road172 m
parking lot — Sheppard West Station Parking176 m
parking lot196 m
highway — Allen Road199 m

Park profile

Five-axis radar across the structural dimensions.

Citywide percentile ranks

Across all Toronto parks in the dataset.

Overall vitality
67th
Edge activation
94th
Connectivity
23th
Amenity diversity
8th
Natural comfort
22th
Enclosure
36th

Most similar parks

Closest in metric space across the five structural dimensions.

Hto ParkWaterfront Park38
Friars Lane BoulevardParkette39
City Wide Open SpaceParkette38
Taylor Creek RavineRavine / Naturalized Park40
Whitfield ParketteParkette37

Most opposite parks

Furthest in metric space — useful for recognising what kind of park this isn’t.

High ParkRavine / Naturalized Park47
Earlscourt ParkNeighbourhood Park44
Ramsden ParkRavine / Naturalized Park43
Christie Pits ParkRavine / Naturalized Park44
Withrow ParkNeighbourhood Park50

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 Downsview Subway Station Greenmatters. 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.
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 Facilities
Inventory of in-park amenities (washrooms, fields, rinks…).
Toronto Pedestrian Network
Sidewalk segments around and through parks; estimated park entrances.
Toronto Centreline V2
Street segments + intersection nodes near park edges; trails and walkways.
Toronto 3D Massing
Building footprints + heights for edge-building counts, frontage density, and tower-in-the-park risk.
Toronto Treed Area
Tree canopy share inside park polygons via stratified-grid sampling.
Toronto Waterbodies & Rivers
Water surface inside parks + nearest-water distance for cooling.
Ravine & Natural Feature Protection
Ravine overlap as a cooling / natural-comfort signal.
Toronto Street Tree Inventory
Tree count + density inside park polygons.
Neighbourhood Profiles
(Pending) Equity context proxy.
OpenStreetMap (Overpass API)
Cafés, restaurants, retail, transit stops, parking, highways, rail.