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Toronto Parks Atlas
Wanless Park, site photograph
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Neighbourhood ParkType:Walkable Mid-Rise Neighbourhood Park (large-scale)Lawrence Park North

Wanless Park

Neighbourhood Park, one of the city's strongest overall (score 55, rank ~97th percentile). Strongest: amenity diversity; weakest: natural comfort.

Photo by Bart Hurt via Google Places · cached 5/9/2026

Data updated

Wanless Park scores 55.3 / 100. Strongest dimensions: enclosure / eyes on park and connectivity. Weakest: edge activation (25). Border-vacuum risk is low. This score is a transparent reading of Jane Jacobs-style vitality factors, not a definitive judgment.

Best fordaily urban lifefamilies

Area · 3.57 ha

What's here

Recreation
PlaygroundSports fieldTennisBasketballPool
Facilities
WashroomDrinking waterPicnic areaBenches

Getting around

Paths

170 m of mapped path, 29% paved.

No steps mapped on the path network.

Seating

Typically 16 m to the nearest bench, and 28 m at the far end.

Arrival

No parking mapped in or within 200 m of this park.

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
55/100

Weighted across six dimensions · confidence 72%

Data Confidence
55.3 / 100

Data confidence: moderate

Citywide
97th
of all 3,753 parks
Among Neighbourhood Park
95th
same primary typology
Expected for similar parks
40
median in medium Neighbourhood Park (n=357)
Performance gap
+15
raw − expected · context confidence high
strong overperformer

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. Connectivity, transit, and edge conditions read at a glance.
Wanless Park, aerial top-down view
Top-down view. City of Toronto orthophoto, ~8 cm/px. Reads the park’s footprint, paths, treed area, and edge conditions from above. City of Toronto Orthophoto · cot_ortho most-current MapServer · cached 5/9/2026.

Boundary: OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).

Explain this score

Where did the 55 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 Activation25 · p81
-6.3
Border Vacuum Risk0 (risk)
+5.0
Connectivity65 · p85
+3.1
Enclosure / Eyes on Park80 · p84
+3.0
Amenity Diversity53 · p98
+0.6
Natural Comfort49 · p53
-0.2

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

Wanless Park works because its amenity diversity score (53) is one of the city's strongest and its connectivity (65) is also top quartile (9 distinct amenity types support different kinds of use).

What limits this park

Wanless Park doesn't have a clear weakness. Every measured dimension is at or above the middle of the pack.

Most distinctive characteristic

Most distinctive feature: exceptionally high amenity diversity (53, top decile).

Jacobs reading

Wanless Park sits between an urban social park and an ecological retreat: moderately useful for both, exceptionally suited to neither.

Performance in context

  • This park is a strong overperformer for its cohort: raw 55 versus an expected 40 for similar parks (medium Neighbourhood Park) (gap +15).

Typology classification

confidence 70%
Neighbourhood Park

Classified as Neighbourhood Park: 3.6 ha, framed by 22 mid-rise vs 0 towers

Edge Activation

25% weightpartial 60%
25.0 / 100

Within 100 m of the park edge: 2 active uses (transit_stop) and 0 dead/hostile uses (none). 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%
65.4 / 100

Connectivity blends paths, intersections, transit, entrances, and edge density. This park has 2 mapped paths/walkways and 23 sidewalk segments within 50 m; 14 street intersections within 100 m; 9 bus stops within a 400 m walk; 2 estimated access points across ~784 m of perimeter. edge density is healthy, no superblock penalty. Source coverage: centreline, pedestrian_network, transit_osm.

Streets within 25 m18
Intersections within 100 m14
Paths/walkways (50 m)2
Sidewalk segments (50 m)23
Transit stops (400 m)9 (0 subway/GO, 0 streetcar/LRT, 9 bus)
Estimated entrances2
Edge connections / 100 m perimeter2.29
Park perimeter784 m

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

Amenity Diversity

20% weightmeasured 75%
53.0 / 100

9 distinct amenity types in the park (basketball, picnic, playground, sports_field, tennis, washroom, …). Diversity 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. All data sources.

Natural Comfort

15% weightmeasured 75%
48.8 / 100

Natural-comfort components for this park: ~13.1% effective canopy (1.7% from contiguous tree polygons + scattered tree density); nearest waterbody ~535 m; 67 city-mapped trees inside the polygon (18.8/ha). Reading: exposed. Source coverage: treed_area, waterbodies, street_trees. Impervious surface is approximated (Toronto's authoritative layer ships only as a raster GeoTIFF).

Canopy coverage1.7%
Canopy area0.06 ha
Inside ravine system0.0%
Water surface inside park0.0%
Nearest water (if outside park)535 m
Estimated green100.0%
City-mapped trees inside polygon67
Tree density18.8 / ha
Cover diversity (Shannon, 0 to 100)12.2
Sample points used241

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

Enclosure / Eyes on Park

10% weightmeasured 80%
80.3 / 100

198 buildings within 25 m of the park edge (22 mid-rise, 176 low-rise, 0 tower); avg edge height 7.0 m (~2 floors); 25.2 buildings per 100 m of 784 m perimeter (strong frontage density); edges are low-rise (mostly 2 to 3 floors); no towers immediately adjacent. "Eyes on the park" come strongest from the 22 mid-rise edge buildings.

Buildings within 25 m198
Buildings within 50 m198
Avg edge height7.0 m (~2 floors)
Tallest edge building14.2 m
Mid-rise (3 to 7 floors)22
Low-rise (< 3 floors)176
Towers (≥ 13 floors)0
Frontage density25.25 per 100 m perimeter
Mid-rise share of edge11%
Tower share of edge0%
Blank-edge share (proxy)0%
Park perimeter784 m

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

Border Vacuum Risk

10% weightpartial 60%
0.0 risk

Park edges face the city. No significant border vacuum detected.

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 (9 types · 37 records)

  • basketball
  • picnic
  • playground
  • sports field
  • tennis
  • washroom
  • bench
  • drinking water
  • pool

Nearby active-edge features (6)

  • transit stop: Wanless Crescent (West)53 m
  • transit stop: Wanless Crescent (West)79 m
  • transit stop: Wanless Crescent (East)100 m
  • transit stop: Wanless Crescent (East)117 m
  • transit stop: Ronan Avenue152 m
  • transit stop: Ronan Avenue182 m

Park profile

Five-axis radar across the structural dimensions.

Edge ActivationConnectivityAmenity DiversityNatural ComfortEnclosureWanless Park
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
    97th
  • Edge activation
    81th
  • Connectivity
    85th
  • Amenity diversity
    98th
  • Natural comfort
    53th
  • Enclosure
    84th

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 Wanless 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.

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

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.