Downtown Area Plan
How do you Envision Downtown Madison?
Downtown Madison is the heart of our region and a major center for jobs, culture, and community. Over the next 20 years, Madison is expected to grow, bringing new residents, businesses, and opportunities. Planning today will help ensure downtown continues to thrive for everyone who lives, works, and visits here.
Envision Downtown Madison is a partnership between the City of Madison and Downtown Madison Inc. to guide the future of downtown. The initiative includes two coordinated efforts: the City's Downtown Area Plan, which will guide growth and public investments, and the Greater Downtown Economic Investment Strategy (or simply, the Downtown Strategy), which focuses on long-term economic investment.
Together, these efforts will help shape a vibrant, inclusive, and sustainable downtown for the future.
Madison Madness is back for 2026!
The City of Madison is planning for the future of Downtown! To help us bet
ter understand your thoughts and preferences about how the Downtown could grow and change, we've created a tournament style bracket.
Each bracket “region" has a different focus: Reasons to be Downtown, Ways to Get Around, Downtown Living and Working, and Open Spaces and Recreation Opportunities.
Each “team" represents an essential component of a downtown for all. Tell us what's most important to you by selecting your preferred team in each matchup. In our planning process, a team not advancing to the finals doesn't mean it's excluded from consideration. But crowning your “champion" is a fun way for you to help us understand your priorities for downtown's future.
The bracket will be open until the tournament is done.
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Data Gathering & Review Completed
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Issues, Opportunities, & Goals Active
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Initial Draft Recommendations Upcoming
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Draft Plan Review and Approval Upcoming
Get Engaged
Subscribe to Email Updates
The best way to stay up to date on the Downtown Area Plan is to join the email list. The list is our primary way of announcing meetings and communicating other project updates for the Downtown Area Plan. Note that Downtown Madison Inc maintains a separate email list for their Downtown Strategy.
Tell us what you think!
Do you have an idea for something in the Downtown? Is there an issue that needs to be addressed? Let us know on our Downtown Ideas Map.
Plan Area and Info
The Downtown Area Plan will cover the area between Park and Blair Streets and Lake Mendota and Monona. Its roughly 700 acres is home to 34,000 residents and over 60,000 jobs.
Why Plan?
A lot has changed since 2012, when the City last planned for the Downtown. Madison is projected to grow by about 100,000 people in the next 20-25 years and most recent growth was focused on the Downtown and surrounding neighborhoods. Bus Rapid Transit has made Downtown more accessible to the entire city. A new Amtrak station could be a reality in the coming years. There's a lot of change coming to State of Wisconsin office buildings. And the University of Wisconsin continues to grow.
Past Meetings and Events
Past meeting materials are now available for the following meetings:
- December 2, 2025 - Envision Downtown Madison Public Open House
Process and Timing
The plan development process is anticipated to take approximately 18 months and be completed by spring 2027. The plan is anticipated to have three distinct phases. Issues, Opportunities, and Goals is the first phase. Public engagement will focus on understanding perspectives about the future of Downtown. Beginning in Spring of 2026, staff will begin to present Initial Draft Recommendations. Finally, the Draft Plan Review and Approval should occur in early 2027.
Project Resources
Reference, background and learning resources will be posted here as they are prepared.
A collection of maps, from aerial photography to zoning, that provide background information about the Downtown.
Existing Adopted Plans
When the Downtown Area Plan is adopted, underlying plans will be archived and will no longer guide City policy or development review. Recommendations from these plans that are still relevant and consistent with current City policies will be incorporated into the Downtown Area Plan.
- Downtown Plan (2012)
- Mifflandia (2019)
- Triangle Monona Bay (2019)*
- Lamp House (2014)
- Regent Street - South Campus (2008)*
- Park Street Urban Design Guidelines (2004)*
- Basset Neighborhood (1997)
- First Settlement (1995)
- Brittingham-Vilas (1989)*
* These plans include area both inside and outside of the Downtown Area Plan boundary and will be partially archived.