Skip to content
Toronto Parks Atlas
City Wide Open Space, site photograph
Back to map
Tower-Community Green SpaceType:Underperforming / Leftover Space (enclosure-leaning)South Parkdale

City Wide Open Space

Tower-Community Green Space, near the bottom of the city overall (score 19, rank ~3th percentile). Strongest: connectivity; weakest: natural comfort.

No photograph yet. If you have one of City Wide Open Space, we would like to use it.

Submit a photo

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

Data updated

City Wide Open Space scores 19.4 / 100. Strongest dimensions: connectivity and enclosure / eyes on park. Weakest: amenity diversity (0). Border-vacuum risk is elevated (100). This score is a transparent reading of Jane Jacobs-style vitality factors, not a definitive judgment.

Best fornearby residentstower-block recreation

Area · 0.12 ha

Getting around

Paths

No walking paths mapped in OpenStreetMap.

Seating

No seating mapped in OpenStreetMap.

Arrival

Nearest parking 85 m away. None of the 2 nearby lots records whether it has accessible spaces.

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.

Vitality Score
19/100

Weighted across six dimensions · confidence 56%

Data Confidence
19.4 / 100

Data confidence: moderate

Citywide
3rd
of all 3,753 parks
Among Tower-Community Green Space
10th
same primary typology
Expected for similar parks
31
median in pocket Tower-Community Green Space (n=13)
Performance gap
-12
raw − expected · context confidence medium
modest underperformer

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

Loading map…

The parks map is loading.
Street context. Park polygon highlighted on the citywide map.

Explain this score

Where did the 19 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
Edge Activation0 · p43
-12.5
Amenity Diversity0 · p32
-10.0
Border Vacuum Risk100 (risk)
-5.0
Natural Comfort26 · p13
-3.6
Connectivity52 · p62
+0.3
Enclosure / Eyes on Park51 · p24
+0.1

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

City Wide Open Space works because its connectivity score (52) is middle of the pack (13 transit stops sit within a 400 m walk).

What limits this park

City Wide Open Space is held back by natural comfort (26, bottom quartile): only 0% canopy means little summer shade; border-vacuum risk is also elevated (100).

Most distinctive characteristic

Most distinctive feature: exceptionally low natural comfort (26, bottom quartile).

Jacobs reading

City Wide Open Space is currently underperforming on both axes: neither integrated into the city nor offering deep natural respite. A candidate for design intervention.

Tradeoffs

  • Connectivity (52) significantly outpaces natural comfort (26): well placed in the city but offers little shade or ecological respite.
  • 11 nearby towers cast wind and shadow without contributing canopy: passive surveillance is plentiful but human-scale comfort is not.

Performance in context

  • Reads as a modest underperformer relative to comparable parks (gap -12; cohort: pocket Tower-Community Green Space).

Typology classification

confidence 75%
Tower-Community Green Spacealso reads as Civic Square

Classified as Tower-Community Green Space: 11 towers vs 2 mid-rise within 25 m on a 0.1 ha park. Secondary read: Civic Square (tower-walled, low canopy (0%), tight frontage: reads as a civic square).

Edge Activation

25% weightpartial 60%
0.0 / 100

Within 100 m of the park edge: 1 active uses (transit_stop) and 14 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: OpenStreetMap: cafes, restaurants, shops, schools, community centres, transit, parking, highways, rail. All data sources.

Connectivity

20% weightmeasured 85%
51.7 / 100

Connectivity blends paths, intersections, transit, entrances, and edge density. This park has 3 mapped paths/walkways and 5 sidewalk segments within 50 m; 7 street intersections within 100 m; 5 streetcar or LRT stops, 8 bus stops within a 400 m walk; 0 estimated access points across ~138 m of perimeter. edge density is healthy, no superblock penalty. Source coverage: centreline, pedestrian_network, transit_osm.

Streets within 25 m6
Intersections within 100 m7
Paths/walkways (50 m)3
Sidewalk segments (50 m)5
Transit stops (400 m)13 (0 subway/GO, 5 streetcar/LRT, 8 bus)
Estimated entrances0
Edge connections / 100 m perimeter4.35
Park perimeter138 m

Source: Toronto Centreline V2 + Pedestrian Network + OSM transit stops. All data sources.

Amenity Diversity

20% weightinferred 30%
0.0 / 100

No amenities recorded.

Source: Toronto Parks & Recreation Facilities + OSM amenity tags. All data sources.

Natural Comfort

15% weightinferred 24%
26.0 / 100

Natural-comfort components for this park: 0.0% estimated tree canopy; nearest waterbody ~151 m. Reading: water-cooled. Source coverage: waterbodies. 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)151 m
Estimated green100.0%
City-mapped trees inside polygon0
Tree density0.0 / ha
Cover diversity (Shannon, 0 to 100)0.0
Sample points used13

Source: Toronto Treed Area + Ravine + Waterbodies + Street Tree Inventory. All data sources.

Enclosure / Eyes on Park

10% weightmeasured 80%
51.2 / 100

13 buildings within 25 m of the park edge (2 mid-rise, 0 low-rise, 11 tower); avg edge height 96.9 m (~32 floors); 9.4 buildings per 100 m of 138 m perimeter (strong frontage density); edges dominated by towers; 11 towers ≥ 40 m within 25 m of the edge. "Eyes on the park" come strongest from the 2 mid-rise edge buildings.

Buildings within 25 m13
Buildings within 50 m13
Avg edge height96.9 m (~32 floors)
Tallest edge building120.0 m
Mid-rise (3 to 7 floors)2
Low-rise (< 3 floors)0
Towers (≥ 13 floors)11
Frontage density9.42 per 100 m perimeter
Mid-rise share of edge15%
Tower share of edge85%
Blank-edge share (proxy)0%
Park perimeter138 m

Source: Toronto 3D Massing (building footprints + heights). All data sources.

Border Vacuum Risk

10% weightpartial 60%
100.0 risk

Border-vacuum factors within 50 m of the park: Gardiner Expressway, Gardiner Expressway, Gardiner Expressway, Oakville Subdivision, Gardiner Expressway, Gardiner Expressway. 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

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: Not loaded yet: Toronto Neighbourhood Profiles. All data sources.

Amenities (0)

No amenities recorded for this park.

Nearby active-edge features (33)

  • highway: Gardiner Expressway12 m
  • highway: Gardiner Expressway15 m
  • highway: Gardiner Expressway28 m
  • highway: Gardiner Expressway29 m
  • highway: Gardiner Expressway29 m
  • rail: Oakville Subdivision50 m
  • rail: Oakville Subdivision54 m
  • transit stop: Windermere Avenue57 m
  • rail: Oakville Subdivision58 m
  • rail: Oakville Subdivision62 m
  • highway: Lake Shore Boulevard West63 m
  • highway: Lake Shore Boulevard West65 m
  • parking lot85 m
  • highway: Gardiner Expressway95 m
  • highway: Gardiner Expressway97 m
  • highway: Lake Shore Boulevard West102 m
  • highway: Lake Shore Boulevard West106 m
  • parking lot106 m
  • highway: Gardiner Expressway112 m
  • rail: Oakville Subdivision128 m
  • rail: Oakville Subdivision130 m
  • highway: Gardiner Expressway131 m
  • rail: Oakville Subdivision131 m
  • rail: Oakville Subdivision133 m
  • rail: Oakville Subdivision152 m
  • rail: Oakville Subdivision154 m
  • rail: Oakville Subdivision155 m
  • rail: Oakville Subdivision157 m
  • highway: Lake Shore Boulevard West180 m
  • restaurant: Al Pa Cones184 m
  • highway: Lake Shore Boulevard West190 m
  • highway: Gardiner Expressway198 m
  • transit stop: Windermere Avenue198 m

Park profile

Five-axis radar across the structural dimensions.

Edge ActivationConnectivityAmenity DiversityNatural ComfortEnclosureCity Wide Open Space
Edge activation, connectivity, amenity diversity, natural comfort, and enclosure, each 0 to 100.

Citywide percentile ranks

Across all Toronto parks in the dataset.

  • Overall vitality
    3th
  • Edge activation
    43th
  • Connectivity
    62th
  • Amenity diversity
    32th
  • Natural comfort
    13th
  • Enclosure
    24th

Most similar parks

Closest in metric space across the five structural dimensions.

Most opposite parks

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

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 City Wide Open Space 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.

Rate this park on as many dimensions as you have an opinion about. 1 = not at all, 5 = strongly. Skip the ones you don't feel sure about. Aggregated only, no comments stored at the row level.

feels socially active
feels comfortable
feels safe
feels connected
feels welcoming
feels ecological / natural
feels good for lingering
feels family-friendly
feels culturally important
70%

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.
  • Increase canopy and reduce paved area. Shade and water features extend usable hours and seasons.
  • 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

real Toronto data
  • City of Toronto Open Data: Green Spaces
    Polygon boundaries, official names, land classes. Boundaries are reconciled against OpenStreetMap (ODbL) for new and updated parks.
  • 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.
  • OpenStreetMap (Overpass API)
    Cafés, restaurants, retail, transit stops, parking, highways, rail.