Goulding Park
Athletic / Recreation Park, in the top tier overall (score 44, rank ~88th percentile). Strongest: amenity diversity; weakest: edge activation.
Photo by Barry Choi via Google Places · cached 5/9/2026
Goulding Park scores 44.4 / 100. Strongest dimensions: connectivity and enclosure / eyes on park. Weakest: edge activation (0). Border-vacuum risk is low. This score is a transparent reading of Jane Jacobs-style vitality factors, not a definitive judgment.
Area · 4.64 ha
Weighted across six dimensions · confidence 72%
Scores are not bell-curved. Percentiles and expected scores provide context without changing the underlying model.
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Explain this score
Where did the 44 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
Goulding Park works because its amenity diversity score (35) is one of the city's strongest and its connectivity (77) is also top decile.
What limits this park
Goulding 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 (35, top decile).
Jacobs reading
Goulding Park sits between an urban social park and an ecological retreat: moderately useful for both, exceptionally suited to neither.
Tradeoffs
- Connectivity (77) significantly outpaces natural comfort (44): well placed in the city but offers little shade or ecological respite.
- The park is enclosed by buildings (67) but the surrounding streets are quiet (edge activation 0): frame without animation.
Performance in context
- Citywide rank is high (88th) but typology rank is more modest (62nd): the strength likely comes from the dataset average pulling lower than this typology’s baseline.
Typology classification
Classified as Athletic / Recreation Park: 50% of amenity types are athletic (sports_field, tennis). Secondary read: Neighbourhood Park (4.6 ha, framed by 5 mid-rise vs 0 towers).
Edge Activation
Within 100 m of the park edge: 0 active uses (none) 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
Connectivity blends paths, intersections, transit, entrances, and edge density. This park has 21 mapped paths/walkways and 29 sidewalk segments within 50 m; 14 street intersections within 100 m; 19 transit stops within a 400 m walk; 13 estimated access points across ~933 m of perimeter. edge density is healthy, no superblock penalty. Source coverage: centreline, pedestrian_network, transit_osm.
Source: Toronto Centreline V2 + Pedestrian Network + OSM transit stops
Amenity Diversity
4 distinct amenity types in the park (community_centre, playground, sports_field, tennis). 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: ~8.8% effective canopy (4.2% from contiguous tree polygons + scattered tree density); nearest waterbody ~1150 m; 58 city-mapped trees inside the polygon (12.5/ha). Reading: exposed. Source coverage: treed_area, 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
138 buildings within 25 m of the park edge (5 mid-rise, 133 low-rise, 0 tower); avg edge height 5.4 m (~2 floors); 14.8 buildings per 100 m of 933 m perimeter (strong frontage density); edges are barely there or single-storey; no towers immediately adjacent. "Eyes on the park" come strongest from the 5 mid-rise edge buildings.
Source: Toronto 3D Massing (building footprints + heights)
Border Vacuum Risk
Border-vacuum factors within 50 m of the park: parking_lot. 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 (4 types · 5 records)
- community centre
- playground
- sports field
- tennis
Nearby active-edge features (15)
- parking lot0 m
- transit stop: Moore Park Ave at Fargo Ave116 m
- transit stop119 m
- parking lot173 m
- parking lot175 m
- retail: Fido179 m
- parking lot180 m
- parking lot182 m
- parking lot186 m
- restaurant: Katsuya189 m
- parking lot189 m
- parking lot189 m
- restaurant: Pizzamaru194 m
- retail: Pizza Pizza195 m
- parking lot197 m
Park profile
Five-axis radar across the structural dimensions.
Citywide percentile ranks
Across all Toronto parks in the dataset.
- Overall vitality88th
- Edge activation46th
- Connectivity97th
- Amenity diversity97th
- Natural comfort47th
- Enclosure64th
Most similar parks
Closest in metric space across the five structural dimensions.
- Colonel Samuel Smith ParkWaterfront Park34
- Hendon ParkAthletic / Recreation Park41
- Ancaster ParkAthletic / Recreation Park42
- Queensway ParkCorridor / Linear Park43
- Eglinton FlatsWaterfront Park35
Most opposite parks
Furthest in metric space. Useful for recognising what kind of park this isn’t.
- Trca Lands ( 26)Ravine / Naturalized Park27
- Simcoe ParkTower-Community Green Space51
- Toronto Islands - Muggs Island ParkRavine / Naturalized Park25
- Manor Community GreenUrban Plaza57
- Rouge ParkRavine / Naturalized Park26
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.
“This community park features an arena, seasonal, outdoor pool, baseball fields & open green space.” (Google editorial summary)
p80 citywide · p77 within Athletic / Recreation Park
Source: Google Places API · match high (0.99 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 Goulding 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.
- 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 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.