Skip to content
Toronto Parks Atlas
Wells Hill Park, site photograph
Back to map
Parkettecluster ·Walkable Mid-Rise Neighbourhood Parks (enclosure-leaning)Casa Loma (96)confidence moderate

Wells Hill Park

Parkette, one of the city's strongest overall (score 65, rank ~100th percentile). Strongest: connectivity; weakest: natural comfort.

Photo by martinaz Joice via Google Places · cached 5/9/2026

Wells Hill Park scores 65.1 / 100. Strongest dimensions: enclosure / eyes on park and connectivity. Weakest: amenity diversity (43.2). Border-vacuum risk is low. This score is a transparent reading of Jane Jacobs-style vitality factors, not a definitive judgment.

Best fora quiet siteveryday neighbourhood use

Area · 0.88 ha

What's here

Recreation
PlaygroundTennis
Facilities
WashroomDrinking waterPicnic areaBenches
Vitality Score
65/100

Weighted across six dimensions · confidence 68%

Data Confidence
65.1 / 100
Citywide
100th
of all 3,788 parks
Among Parkette
100th
same primary typology
Expected for similar parks
37
median in small Parkette (n=247)
Performance gap
+28
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.
Wells Hill 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 65 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
Connectivity79 · p98
+5.8
Border Vacuum Risk0 (risk)
+5.0
Enclosure / Eyes on Park92 · p97
+4.2
Amenity Diversity43 · p94
-1.4
Edge Activation55 · p97
+1.1
Natural Comfort53 · p68
+0.4

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

Wells Hill Park works because its connectivity score (79) is one of the city's strongest and its edge activation (55) is also top decile (37 transit stops sit within a 400 m walk; 12 intersections fall within 100 m of the edge).

What limits this park

Wells Hill 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 connectivity (79, top decile).

Jacobs reading

Wells Hill Park is a balanced hybrid: strong urban integration (75) and meaningful natural comfort (67). Rare in the Toronto Park Catalogue.

Tradeoffs

  • Connectivity (79) significantly outpaces natural comfort (53): well placed in the city but offers little shade or ecological respite.

Performance in context

  • This park is a strong overperformer for its cohort: raw 65 versus an expected 37 for similar parks (small Parkette) (gap +28).

Typology classification

confidence 70%
Parkette

Classified as Parkette: small (8842 m²) with strong building frontage (18.0 per 100 m)

Edge Activation

25% weightpartial 60%
54.5 / 100

Within 100 m of the park edge: 10 active uses (retail, transit_stop, restaurant) and 1 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%
78.9 / 100

Connectivity blends paths, intersections, transit, entrances, and edge density. This park has 13 mapped paths/walkways and 29 sidewalk segments within 50 m; 12 street intersections within 100 m; 37 transit stops within a 400 m walk; 11 estimated access points across ~434 m of perimeter. edge density is healthy, no superblock penalty. Source coverage: centreline, pedestrian_network, transit_osm.

Streets within 25 m13
Intersections within 100 m12
Paths/walkways (50 m)13
Sidewalk segments (50 m)29
Transit stops (400 m)37
Estimated entrances11
Edge connections / 100 m perimeter3.00
Park perimeter434 m

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

Amenity Diversity

20% weightmeasured 75%
43.2 / 100

6 distinct amenity types in the park (picnic, playground, tennis, washroom, bench, drinking_water). 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

15% weightpartial 45%
52.6 / 100

Natural-comfort components for this park: ~20.3% effective canopy (0.0% from contiguous tree polygons + scattered tree density); nearest waterbody ~553 m; 29 city-mapped trees inside the polygon (29.0/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)553 m
Estimated green100.0%
City-mapped trees inside polygon29
Tree density29.0 / ha
Cover diversity (Shannon, 0 to 100)0.0
Sample points used61

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

Enclosure / Eyes on Park

10% weightmeasured 80%
91.6 / 100

78 buildings within 25 m of the park edge (26 mid-rise, 48 low-rise, 4 tower); avg edge height 12.3 m (~4 floors); 18.0 buildings per 100 m of 434 m perimeter (strong frontage density); edges are at a Jacobs-scale walkable mid-rise (3 to 7 floors); 4 towers ≥ 40 m within 25 m of the edge. "Eyes on the park" come strongest from the 26 mid-rise edge buildings.

Buildings within 25 m78
Buildings within 50 m78
Avg edge height12.3 m (~4 floors)
Tallest edge building76.6 m
Mid-rise (3 to 7 floors)26
Low-rise (< 3 floors)48
Towers (≥ 13 floors)4
Frontage density17.97 per 100 m perimeter
Mid-rise share of edge33%
Tower share of edge5%
Blank-edge share (proxy)0%
Park perimeter434 m

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

Border Vacuum Risk

10% weightpartial 60%
0.0 risk

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

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 (6 types · 22 records)

  • picnic
  • playground
  • tennis
  • washroom
  • bench
  • drinking water

Nearby active-edge features (51)

  • retail: Joe Fresh37 m
  • retail: Loblaws44 m
  • transit stop: Bathurst55 m
  • transit stop: Bathurst56 m
  • transit stop: St. Clair Av West, South Entrance58 m
  • parking lot65 m
  • restaurant: A&W70 m
  • transit stop: St. Clair Av West, North Entrance71 m
  • retail: LCBO78 m
  • restaurant: Popeyes79 m
  • transit stop: St. Clair West Station99 m
  • retail: Annex RMT100 m
  • transit stop: St. Clair West Station109 m
  • transit stop: St. Clair West Station114 m
  • parking lot114 m
  • restaurant: Urban Fare Catering & Food Shop115 m
  • retail: INS Market116 m
  • retail: Freedom Mobile116 m
  • transit stop: Bathurst St at St Clair Ave West117 m
  • transit stop: Bathurst St at St Clair Ave West118 m
  • retail: Blue Paisley Fine Rugs120 m
  • transit stop: St. Clair West120 m
  • retail: Dollarama122 m
  • parking lot123 m
  • restaurant: Osmow's124 m
  • cafe: Bakery Garden Café124 m
  • retail: Fantasy Dry Cleaning & Alteration128 m
  • transit stop: St. Clair West Station130 m
  • restaurant: Pizza Del Arte130 m
  • restaurant: Harvey's133 m
  • parking lot133 m
  • retail: Clairhurst Eye Care138 m
  • transit stop: St. Clair West Station143 m
  • retail: Evergreen Natural Foods146 m
  • transit stop: Bathurst149 m
  • transit stop: Bathurst150 m
  • transit stop: Helena Avenue150 m
  • restaurant: Booyah154 m
  • restaurant: Wychwood Pub157 m
  • retail: Neighbors Market162 m
  • retail: Pet Mama170 m
  • retail: Source Organics178 m
  • retail: Wine Rack181 m
  • retail: Prayasha186 m
  • transit stop: Tweedsmuir192 m
  • transit stop: Tweedsmuir Avenue193 m
  • restaurant: Kiyo Japanese Cuisine193 m
  • transit stop: Vaughan194 m
  • transit stop: Vaughan195 m
  • retail: Knit-O-Matic198 m
  • retail: Golden Hangar Cleaners199 m

Park profile

Five-axis radar across the structural dimensions.

Edge ActivationConnectivityAmenity DiversityNatural ComfortEnclosureWells Hill 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
    100th
  • Edge activation
    97th
  • Connectivity
    98th
  • Amenity diversity
    94th
  • Natural comfort
    68th
  • Enclosure
    97th

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.

Visitor signals

Public attention measured by Google Places aggregates. This proxies attention, not occupancy. Aggregate-only: no usernames, no review text, no extra photos beyond the cached hero.

“Trees stud this low-key park offering picnic tables & a children's playground & wading pool.” (Google editorial summary)

Visitor signal score61 / 100
60.5 / 100

p81 citywide · p85 within Parkette

Volume (saturated)35
Density / ha75
Rating contribution80
Match dampener×1.00
Average rating
★ 4.2
out of 5
Ratings collected
267
total reviews
Photos uploaded
10
total contributors

Source: Google Places API · match unverified (0.00 composite confidence) · last refreshed 5/9/2026. Privacy contract. Measures public attention, not occupancy.

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 Wells Hill 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.

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.

  • Diversify what people can do in the park (playground, washroom, water, shade, performance, sport, garden): even small additions raise this score.

Data sources

real Toronto data
  • 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 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.