Central Park:                               A Park Like No Other

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In July 2007, the City of Madison's Central Park Design & Implementation Task Force was created to assess the next steps for Central Park. UOSF is supporting their work and we encourage citizens to voice their opinions on the project at local meetings.

For meeting dates and past meeting minutes, visit Central Park Design & Implementation Task Force.

Click to view the Central Park Concept Plan and Renderings:

Concept Plan for Central Park

Native Garden

Market Plaza

Open Lawn and Stage

Naming Wall

Read about UOSF Central Park accomplishments to Date

Vision: A Central Park in Madison's East Rail Corridor

Imagine Madison with a village in its midst: a revitalized and reinvested East Rail Corridor. The Corridor already has the advantage of its location near downtown, and soon it will have its own Central Park, surrounded by small businesses, well-designed homes (new and old), light manufacturing, and office buildings. It will be a place where people can walk to work and to cultural events, and where they can enjoy all of the amenities of living close to the heart of the city. It will be a truly urban neighborhood where work, recreation, and residence are fully integrated.

The Urban Open Space Foundation has listened - and is still listening - to what people want this place to be. The grass-roots park vision that Madisonians have described is something inviting, democratic, quirky, diverse, and wonderful - in a word, it's very "Madison."

Teens from the Lussier Teen Center might stop by a skate ramp in the park. Neighborhood theater groups might perform in an outdoor amphitheater. Employees might have lunch at outdoor cafes-on-the-green. Art lovers might stroll along a reborn Main Street with restaurants, galleries, and live-work artists' lofts. Wanderers might find refuge from the city in a place that focuses on sky, water, and native flora. Families from the Isthmus and throughout Madison might play, relax, and reconnect in the park's green spaces.

Find out About the Madison Central Park Initiative

• History of the East Rail Corridor

• Cultural Geography of the East Rail Corridor

• History of the Central Park Concept and Effort

• Issues and Opportunities for a Central Park

• The Community Visioning Process

• More Information About the Central Park Effort: Sustainable Development, Affordable Housing, Comparable Projects, and More

• Contact Us/ Get Involved

• Link to the City of Madison's East Rail Corridor Plan Advisory Committee webpage

Press Releases and Media Coverage Archives

• Press Release: New Central Park Concept Plan Unveiled June 22, 2005

• Rep. Tammy Baldwin Secures $50,000 for Central Park Project, November 6, 2001

• Help UOSF Create a "Community Vision" for Madison's Central Park, November 10, 2001

• Community Visioning Images Release, December 17, 2001

• George Meyer UOSF's New Representative on the East Rail Corridor Plan Advisory Committee, February 20, 2002

• Madison Common Council Approves Central Park Plan, March 6, 2002

• UOSF and UW-Madison Reach out to Madison Youth on Central Park Planning, March 8, 2002

• East Side Farmer's Market to Open on Future Central Park Site, April 3, 2002

• UOSF Joins Williamson Marquette Neighborhood Associations to Sponsor Free Affordable Housing Workshop, August 2, 2002

• Full Listing of Madison Media Coverage, 1999-2002

The Transformative Power of Parks

Parks have the power to enhance the quality of life in nearby neighborhoods and for the entire metro area by providing new recreational opportunities, new contact with the wildness that weaves through our cities, and new places for social, cultural, and civic interaction.

Parks also act to spur new economic development and employment growth, especially "green" light industrial and high-tech sector jobs. Similarly, parks attract new residential construction, and if progressive policies are in place from the start, parks make providing for affordable residential opportunities more viable for developers. New parks in old industrial zones serve these purposes in many other American cities, and are currently being built in many more: Denver, St. Paul, Milwaukee, Boston, Santa Fe, Los Angeles, and elsewhere.

In the Central Park concept, Madison has grasped a singular, historic opportunity to positively shape development in the only remaining part of the central city with significant amounts of developable land. Madison's Central Park would create a burst of "Smart Growth," sustainable development along its edges, with integrated design elements, open space linkages, and a vibrant sense of community.