Urban Open Space Foundation, UW Students Reach Out to Madison Youth on Central Park Issues

The Urban Open Space Foundation (UOSF) is working with students from the UW’s Urban and Regional Planning program to find out what local youth think about the potential of a new Central Park in the East Rail Corridor. (In March, the Common Council approved a land-use plan creating about 24 acres of new open space in the area.)

“The UW students are really doing all the work,” says UOSF’s Hal Cohen, who is coordinating the outreach project with Kris Tiles, Shawn Schmidt, and Jacob Boersema, students in Prof. Marcus Lane’s Public Participation for Planning and Policymaking. The team will conduct 10 workshops in April at Marquette Elementary and Madison East.

This effort follows up on UOSF’s highly successful “Community Visioning” workshops last fall, in which UOSF brought in Jones & Jones Landscape Architects from Seattle to run a series of open-invitation workshops. These generated a set of “shared design principles” for the park and a series of thought-provoking “concept drawings.” (Materials and images generated from the Community Visioning are available from UOSF.)

“It’s great that the UW students can learn about public participation while actually accomplishing something vitally important to the Central Park effort,” continues Cohen.

“There are really very few successful examples of designers and planners asking children what they want or need,” said team member Tiles after the first workshop. “So we were surprised and delighted to meet school children who were enthusiastic about participating and who really know the issues. These kids really know their parks!”

“Until now, no one asked what Madison’s youth want from a new park,” notes Cohen, “even though young children and teens will use the park more than anyone.” The Central Park site is only blocks from the three schools and the new Lussier Teen Center.

“People have this idea that youth are disengaged or apathetic,” Cohen continues, “but anyone who’s watched the well-organized campaign to get a skateboard park for Madison – and specifically for the Central Park – knows otherwise. Youth know what they want, and we and the UW want to make sure their voices are heard, loud and clear.”