My personal position is zoos are important. I think it’s fantastic work, what people there are doing. I think since zoos always have problems with financing, they need to generate money, [and] they only generate money if they have attractions.
And this is the weak point: Zoos turn into entertainment centers, but they should go back to [being] scientific institutions. They should be more self-confident instead of following all these trends. People want to be entertained in a swimming pool, people want to be entertained in a hotel, and they want to be entertained in a zoo. But in a zoo, we have a different responsibility because we tell people about nature—about why we [exist].
—Natascha Meuser, in “Inside the Design Evolution of the Modern Zoo”
Published to write.house by Bix Frankonis. Comments and replies by email are welcome.