
Wadsworth Park
Neighbourhood Park, in the top tier overall (score 44, rank ~87th percentile). Strongest: connectivity; weakest: edge activation.
Photo by Helios Helios via Google Places · cached 5/9/2026
Wadsworth Park scores 43.8 / 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 · 1.75 ha
Weighted across six dimensions · confidence 68%
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
Wadsworth Park works because its connectivity score (78) is one of the city's strongest and its amenity diversity (21) is also top decile (22 transit stops sit within a 400 m walk; 25 intersections fall within 100 m of the edge).
What limits this park
Wadsworth 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 (78, top decile).
Jacobs reading
Wadsworth Park sits between an urban social park and an ecological retreat: moderately useful for both, exceptionally suited to neither.
Tradeoffs
- Connectivity (78) significantly outpaces natural comfort (51): well placed in the city but offers little shade or ecological respite.
- The park is enclosed by buildings (76) but the surrounding streets are quiet (edge activation 0): frame without animation.
Performance in context
- A modest overperformer for its neighbourhood park typology (+6 vs the median in medium Neighbourhood Park).
Typology classification
Classified as Neighbourhood Park: 1.8 ha, framed by 9 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 11 mapped paths/walkways and 41 sidewalk segments within 50 m; 25 street intersections within 100 m; 22 transit stops within a 400 m walk; 6 estimated access points across ~681 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
2 distinct amenity types in the park (basketball, playground). 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: ~20.4% effective canopy (0.0% from contiguous tree polygons + scattered tree density); nearest waterbody ~1270 m; 51 city-mapped trees inside the polygon (29.1/ha). Reading: exposed. Source coverage: 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
165 buildings within 25 m of the park edge (9 mid-rise, 156 low-rise, 0 tower); avg edge height 6.8 m (~2 floors); 24.2 buildings per 100 m of 681 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 9 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 (2 types · 2 records)
- basketball
- playground
Nearby active-edge features (31)
- parking lot12 m
- cafe: Hounslow's House116 m
- parking lot119 m
- parking lot121 m
- restaurant: King's Delight129 m
- retail: St. Lucia Variety135 m
- parking lot135 m
- transit stop: Davenport Rd at Laughton Ave150 m
- transit stop: Silverthorn Avenue152 m
- retail: Newediuk Funeral Home155 m
- transit stop: Davenport Rd at Laughton Ave156 m
- transit stop: Silverthorn Avenue158 m
- retail165 m
- retail: Calabria Wearing165 m
- retail: Alli's Fresh Baked165 m
- parking lot166 m
- restaurant: Huong Viet Restaurant167 m
- community: Toronto Public Library - St. Clair/Silverthorn169 m
- retail: Victoria Dry Cleaners171 m
- retail: Salon Dionne172 m
- retail: Hi-Five Computer179 m
- restaurant: Pho Xua180 m
- restaurant: Marinho Sports Bar181 m
- parking lot182 m
- restaurant: Banh Cuon Pho Ga185 m
- retail: Benjamin Moore186 m
- parking lot186 m
- restaurant: Da Silva Sports Bar & Grill187 m
- restaurant: Sabor Brazil188 m
- restaurant: Tropical Venue189 m
- parking lot192 m
Park profile
Five-axis radar across the structural dimensions.
Citywide percentile ranks
Across all Toronto parks in the dataset.
- Overall vitality87th
- Edge activation61th
- Connectivity98th
- Amenity diversity92th
- Natural comfort61th
- Enclosure78th
Most similar parks
Closest in metric space across the five structural dimensions.
- Lamport Stadium ParkNeighbourhood Park37
- East Mall ParkNeighbourhood Park42
- Sanwood ParkNeighbourhood Park45
- York Mills Valley ParkRavine / Naturalized Park33
- Woodbine ParkWaterfront Park37
Most opposite parks
Furthest in metric space. Useful for recognising what kind of park this isn’t.
- Toronto Islands - Muggs Island ParkRavine / Naturalized Park25
- Trca Lands ( 26)Ravine / Naturalized Park27
- Simcoe ParkTower-Community Green Space51
- Rouge ParkRavine / Naturalized Park21
- 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.
p62 citywide · p70 within Neighbourhood Park
Source: Google Places API · match high (0.95 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 Wadsworth 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.
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.