After acts and regulations were being implemented to better peoples living conditions due to overcrowding, the demand for open natural places became greater. Providing a public space that flows gradually without interfering with major road ways is what came to define central parks features which emerged from the 1857 competition to design a park.

Central parks design was very much Influenced by England. Defined by its naturalistic design such as having ponds, bridges and follies (extravagant structures), these components were adopted for central parks design by Olmsted. As a way to weave the park into the city scape, Olmsted created natural looking bridges that pass over and under streets in a continuous manner where the surrounding elements wouldn’t be interrupted to give the visitor an ongoing experience without being disrupted by streets. This gives visitors a chance to feel close to nature and far from the city, just by adding tall trees to the park’s pedestrian pathways, blocks the visitors view to the emerging city buildings around it.

Some of the most prominent features in central park are scattered and put in places that seem as though no one else had discovered it. Steps that lead to deep and low points to small waterfalls that become rivers and flow to a nearby lake. Other steps lead to arches that give a sense of discovery or a checkpoint that’ll lead into another section of the park almost as a secret pathway. Other features consist of strategically placed hills and rocks. Hills are placed in a way that’ll lead you to walk over it to see what’s on the other side, where as boulders were placed for visitors to look towards a specific view that the designer wanted to emphasize. There are also Folly structures that are placed for visual appeal to enhance the visitors experience such as the Dairy, a gothic structure that gives the park a mythical or enchanting image. The band shell was also another feature designed as a folly to connect the new world with the ancient. All these components give a sense of curiosity and discovery while strolling through central park.