zoological parks

Dr. Brij Kishor Gupta | Adit Pal

ver the last few decades the Zoo master plan has evolved from a document organizing the institution spatially, to one that deals with issues of management, maintenance, revenue generation, education, and wildlife conservation. This is in keeping with the increasingly complex roles of zoos themselves, from institutions with taxonomic displays of fauna to centers of conservation. An important aspect of a zoo master plan is that it is a development guide for the future, which is created to prevent ad-hoc decisions being made by changing zoo administrations, but at the same time has the flexibility to accommodate unforeseen conditions new animal acquisitions etc. A master plan may be created for a new zoological park on an undeveloped site, or increasingly it is created for an existing zoo, in order to reorganize the institution along new lines of thinking, and provide a development road-map for the future.

In a manner similar to other architectural or landscape planning projects, the zoo master plan process involves multiple steps:

Master Plan Process

Inventory

This includes background information on natural factors (climate, geology, hydrology, soils, and existing vegetation), infrastructure (utilities, structures), cultural systems (historic and surrounding uses, cultural values) as well as historical case studies and current trends of similar institutions. In the case of an existing zoo, this would include a comprehensive analysis of the existing animal collection, and quality/condition of exhibits.
Analysis

escarpment which might be evaluated as a conservation area in a normal site analysis could instead be seen as a backdrop for a particular kind of exhibit, with the cliff forming a natural barrier. Similarly depressions in the land which might be seen as having potential for groundwater re-charge might become in addition, wetland exhibits.
Surveys

The spatial opportunities and constraints analysis is no different from that for a non-zoo project, with the exception that the opportunities seen are different due to the nature of the program. For instance a steep

This is an often overlooked component of a master plan, usually because designers are reluctant to take the time and effort to engage with the community. Surveys allow for a compiling of emotions, memories, attitudes and information that visitors retain from their visit to a zoo, and are important in terms of not only providing an engaging experience but crucial to the development of an interpretive / educational program. This is particularly important for existing zoos seeking to redevelop. Surveys internationally have shown that the largest number of repeat visitors to a

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zoo are local and from the surrounding region not tourists, and this is likely the case for India as well.
Development Programme

Concept Master Plan

Draft Master Plan

Aided by workshops/meetings with the zoo staff and other wildlife specialists, the master plan programme addresses exhibit planning in terms of facility requirements, animal health and welfare, as well as non-tangible aspects such as of the vision and mission statement. A zoo is a far more complex institution than a library or museum, since it deals with living things, and the curatorial and maintenance staff inputs are critical to the success of a master plan.

Alternative concepts to the organization or re-organization of the zoo, based on the site analysis, development program, and mission statement, are created and evaluated by a core master plan group which includes the zoo director, curators, and wildlife specialists. The alternatives at this stage embody in common the basic organizational thrust which a hundred years ago would have been taxonomic-based (mammals, reptiles, birds etc) but has since evolved to ecological/biome-based (tropical forest, grasslands, riverine etc.)

The selected concept alternative is further refined with existing site data, and staff and visitor-inputs, and is synthesized into an illustrative plan which organizes the components exhibits, buffers, maintenance areas, visitor areas, circulation, etc in detail. Master plan level budgets and financial phasing are usually included at this stage, since the development of redevelopment of a zoo is an expensive process by any standards.
FACING PAGE: Hornbill provided with wooden logs to make nest ABOVE: Naturalistic enclosures of sambhar at Indira Gandhi Zoo, Vishakhapatnam

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| Final Master Plan

The draft master plan is reviewed internally as well as externally by any agencies that have jurisdiction in India this would be the Central Zoo Authority. And in a manner similar to any other master plan process, changes are incorporated and a final master plan report is created and published.

Assembling a comprehensive master plan is an expensive and timeconsuming process, and may zoos address one or two components at a time. A phased approach still has its benefits in improved management, and the already existing components can always be folded in to the main master plan process at a later date.

Master Plan Aspects Master Plan Components

Legislation

One of the first tasks in the master plan process is to define what the master plan actually is, which may also be referred to as a strategic plan, feasibility study or development plan. As noted earlier, a zoological park is a complex institution in terms of functions, and where most designers run aground is an inability to move beyond the spatial organization of a master plan. Activities related to the master plan process include strategic planning, development of financial resources and operational strategies and business planning, which analyses human resources and operational opportunities. The term comprehensive planning is sometimes used to describe a fully integrated planning process that combines physical, financial and operations planning. Collection planning guides the management of living collections of animals and plants. Zoos may also have a Master Educational Plan or a Conservation Master Plan, Animal Collection and Management Plan. A comprehensive master plan would typically include: Staffing and operational guidelines Education and research programmes Marketing and public relations Animal collections and facilities to house and support them Fund-raising and development Financial planning

All zoos in India are covered under the Zoo Act of 1991. Planners, architects and landscape architects who engage in zoo design in India should have responsibility to ensure the zoo client understands both what they are doing, and why, and to understand whether the objectives laid under National Zoo Policy, 1998 and guidelines laid under Recognition of Zoo Rules, 1992 are being met. In addition the Central Zoo Authority has published books to aid zoo planners these are listed at the end of the article.
Circulation and Accessibility

Getting people and staff around a zoo is more difficult than it sounds. Older zoos generally have a non-hierarchical circulation plan, in which an open network of roads crosses the zoo and most if not all Indian zoos are planned this way. While this may allow for reasonably efficient maintenance, it creates a non-directional and often confusing visitor experience, and of course conflicts between maintenance movement and public movement. A contemporary new zoo, if planned correctly, is more like a hotel in terms of circulation, in that service movement is almost totally separated from visitor movement, so that the latters experience of the zoo is not hindered. Few visitors to state-of-theart amusement parks such as Disney World realize that below and behind all

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the attractions are a maze of service tunnels and facilities which keep the entire operation running smoothly and out of sight. At a minimum, even if circulation paths are shared between visitors and service personnel, the service areas themselves are completely hidden or screened off from visitor view. A zoo is a public institution and needs to allow all types of users to move around and view exhibits with an equal amount of ease. At the master plan level this means ensuring that no movement path has a gradient of more than five percent, and otherwise providing ramps for wheelchair access. Stairways may be provided as shortcuts as long as alternative ramped paths are also provided. Every viewing spot into an exhibit need not be accessible by wheelchair, but the main viewing areas certainly do need to be this becomes a planning challenge on sites with a lot of topographical variation. Viewing sightlines into exhibits and over barriers need to take into account people sitting in wheelchairs as well as small children who cannot see over barriers. Interpretive exhibits and graphics should ideally also be designed for the blind and the visually-impaired. In general any zoo master plan should strive for universal accessibility.
Animal Collections and Facilities

Animal collections are of course the core component of any zoo master plan and in the case of a new zoo the planner has a real opportunity to engage with the zoo client in determining the philosophical direction of the zoo in terms of exhibit types. More commonly, the planner is brought in to prepare master plan for an existing zoo and thus existing animal collections have to be dealt with. Historically animal collections at most

FACING PAGE Signage at Bhubaneshwar Zoo THIS PAGE ABOVE Layout plan of Woodland Park Zoo. Zoo architects: Jones & Jones

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zoos are a hodge-podge of exotic and local animals, and generally speaking zoo directors and curators hate to give up or lessen the number of animals they have on display, since numbers are often associated with boasting rights. Convincing a zoo client that a smaller number of animals in higher quality exhibits is an exercise that most international zoo planners have to go through on a regular basis. However, through a series of participatory workshops, it is usually possible to shift the direction of the existing animal collection, by suggesting species to be exchanged with other zoos. Zoo bred animals cannot be returned to the wild by law, unless they are part of a carefully managed reintroduction program in which the genetic diversity of the reintroduced animals is not suspect. A broad understanding of exhibit design types and barrier types is crucial to the master plan since these occupy different amounts of space. For example the leopard or any other small/medium cat, which has climbing capabilities, can be exhibited inside a steel caged enclosure (older zoos and most zoos have this) or a stainless steel net enclosure (state-of-the-art zoos

generally use this). Caged enclosures, unless built large and expensively, have the obvious drawback of being far too small for the animals movement requirements. Netted enclosures are somewhat better since the net can structurally drape across trees and natural/artifical rock formations in a less visible way, which makes for better viewing and interpretation but doesnt necessarily provide more space. A third option is an open-moated exhibit in which the moats are very wide (6 m or more) and very deep this last option would occupy a significant amount of more master plan space.
Animal Behaviour and Health

plan may point towards these by the incorporation of environments that afford such behaviour in the first place for instance a forest of llanas (creepers) for monkeys to swing from, or a series of cascading pools for otters to swim in. Mixing in vegetation with animal exhibits, though desirable from an environmental point of view, is always a difficult exercise since in an enclosed space, the wear and tear on plants and trees is usually excessive to the point where the plants are gone within days and the trees have their bark scraped off. For a master plan then, existing vegetation has to be evaluated carefully and either kept outside an exhibit, or protected within an exhibit, or only if it can be shown that the species in question does not impact vegetation, left inside the exhibit unprotected. Toxicity to animals is of course a major concern, and any toxic plants/trees need to be identified early on and kept outside exhibits. Zoo animals, as are our pets, are closely associated with their keepers and the veterinary staff, and the inputs of these staff members are crucial to a master plan. Though it is rare for a

As noted earlier, zoo design is complex since it involves an understanding of animal behavior and health. Animal behaviour inputs in the wild can be provided by wildlife experts and biologists, or if time and money permits, by observing first-hand the activities (sleeping, feeding, hunting, playing) of the animal in the wild itself. Though behavioural enrichment techniques that allow animals to mimic their activity patterns in the wild, are normally explored during detailed exhibit design, a master

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master plan exhibit to be designed around a specific animal, certain highvalue animals such as elephants, koalas, pandas, and gorillas have warranted this in the past.
Staffing and Operational Guidelines

staff can concentrate on other issues such as improving animal health, and greater interaction with visitors. A zoo planners inputs at first glance appear to have nothing to do with operational guidelines. But schedules and methods of food delivery, storage, and preparation, as well as garbage collection/disposal/incineration, recycling, staffing shifts, and zoo security, all may impact the master plan in direct and indirect ways. In addition every zoo needs to have a disaster preparedness plan which includes animal escapes and this plan includes procedures for personnel as well as a physical plan which allows different areas of the zoo to be isolated if need be.
Visitor Facilities

villages with vernacular architecture. Programming visitor facilities into the master plan requires discussions on visitor numbers, walking distances and servicing and designing these takes the usual skills that architects and landscape architects already have.

Master plans at one level set goals to be achieved, but the attainment of those depends on how practical the master plan is at a level of implementation, staffing and operation. Zoo staff expertise can assist in reducing implicit master plan costs by helping resolve programmatic or functional issues and elements clearly. As noted earlier, staff is an invaluable resource that know the institution better than anyone else and by drawing upon their knowledge the zoo designer is able to articulate the plan to greater effect. A comprehensive master plan evaluates the staffing requirements for all aspects of the zoo. For exhibits, the keepers must be able to service the animals easily and efficiently and administer proper husbandry techniques to ensure the mental and physical well being of the animals. If the exhibits by virtue of their design require less maintenance, then zoo

The best zoos in the world also generally have superb visitor facilities, from visitor entry pavilions (ticketing, information, restrooms, zoo shops etc), restaurants, snack bars, toilets, childrens play areas, and shaded rest areas. Often these facilities are clustered in groups located strategically across the master plan. Sometimes these are themed around exhibit zones, and take the form of

FACING PAGE LEFT: Layout signage of Manda Zoo, Jammu RIGHT: Signage at Bhubaneshwar Zoo THIS PAGE ABOVE LEFT: Logo of Hyderabad Zoo RIGHT: Graphics at Whipsnade, UK

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| Visitor Message

Understanding the psyche of the typical visitor is important in terms of communicating the larger message of conservation and the more direct message of protecting the zoo premises itself. There are large cultural differences between Asian, European, North and South American societies in their behaviour and understanding of animals, as well as differences between different parts of a society (north and south India for example) and different age groups (school children, teenagers, elderly) and gender. But there is a general agreement that all 21st century zoos need to have an implicit conservation message which includes their role in that conservation agenda.
Education and Research

In aiming to become centers of conservation, noted at the start of this article, zoos may take on different functions apart from exhibiting animals, including wildlife rescue and conservation breeding, field research, and education. A master plan needs to identify education and research issues along with the physical plan right from the start. If the zoo determines that the major educational theme is to be conservation of local wildlife, the facilities and programmes would be very different than if it were to concentrate on conservation of endangered species from around the world. The resultant animal collections and facilities would be dissimilar and to some extent the staffing requirements would be different as well.
Marketing and Public Relations

THIS PAGE ABOVE: Hidden enclosure for chimpanzee at Nehru Zoo, Hyderabad BELOW: Flamingo exhibit at Jersey Zoological Park, UK FACING PAGE ABOVE: Aviary at Bhubaneshwar Zoo BELOW: Safari at Whipsnade Zoo, UK

Public relations affect the overall impression of a zoological park and its staff. It may develop a plan to deal with tragic events, such as the loss of a valued animal or one that is liked by the public. There should be guidelines to handle sensitive issues that are both pleasant and unpleasant. Having these strategies outlined prior to the events taking place will make a smoother transition during difficult times or when key decision-making personnel are unavailable.

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Fund-raising and Financial Planning

A comprehensive master plan includes a revenue generation analysis (in case of an existing zoo) and proposed revenue streams for the future development of the zoo. While gate receipts and fees will help meet a zoos running costs, large development projects both facilities and programmes need other sources of capital generation. Over the past couple of decades, several western zoos have been successful in financially turning themselves around with the help of such master plans Zoo Atlanta is a well known example. In most zoos in India the gate collection goes directly to their treasury grants and the resultant sources of income are limited this affects the way these institution can develop both physically and programmatically. However, an institution may set up a registered society as done by many zoos in states like Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and many more, so that funds can directly deposited in societys account and can be used as and when needed. Zoos may also look for corporate sponsorship programs for additional funding support. However, the investment policies and advertising requirements of the corporation need to be evaluated to ensure that there are no conflicts with the goals and objectives of the zoo master plan. A significant amount of fund-raising in the most financially successful zoos around the world is event-based. This may involve opening up special areas of the zoo on a limited basis, usually in the off-hours when the facility is not open to the public. A master plan may accommodate for such special events and provide the facilities and suggest operational guidelines and staffing needs to accommodate these. Financial planning deals with the costs of operation of the zoo and capital improvements. While fund-raising looks at sources of income, financial planning seeks to effectively manage the zoo once the

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| Resources References
1. A. K. Patnaik, S. K. Sinha, Brij Kishor Gupta. 2007. Master Planning of Zoos. Published by the Nadankanan Zoological Park, Bhubaneshwar 320 Pp,. 2. Brij Kishor Gupta. 2000. Principles and Standards for Barrier Design. Proceedings of the shortterm training course organized by CZA and School of Planning and Architecture, Pp. 15-23. Published by Central Zoo Authority and School of Planning and Architecture. 3. Brij Kishor Gupta, B.A. Daniel and Sally Walker. 2006. The need for scientific studies of visitation trends in Indian Zoos. Zoos Print, Vol. XXI, No. 7, Pp. 21-24. 4. Brij Kishor Gupta. 2008. Environmental Enrichment of Wild Animals in Captivity. Indian Zoo Year Book, Vol.. Vi, Pp.30-44, Published by the Indian Zoo Directors Association and Central Zoo Authority. 5. Brij Kishor Gupta. 2005. Creating Wildlife Habitats. A+D Architectural Design A Journal of Indian Architecture, Vol. XXII, No. 2, Pp 24-31. 6. Brij Kishor Gupta, 2006. Role of the Zoo in preserving Biodiversity. Environ, Vo. IX, No. 3, Pp. 12-19. 7. Cook, Jonathan, The Language of Planning, in The Support Centers of America; Reprinted from The Non-Profit Times, November 1987 and March 1988. 8. Coe, Jon, New and Sustainable Directions in Zoo Exhibit Design, in Wild Mammals in Captivity, Kleiman, D., Editor; University of Chicago Press. 9. Coe, Jon and Brij Kishor Gupta. 2007. Zoo Master Planning Processes, Published in Master Planning of Zoos Proceedings of Training Programme on Master Planning of Zoos for Directors and Managers of Zoos in India held on 1116th April, 2006 at Bhubaneshwar. Published by the Central Zoo Authority. Pp. 299-308. 10. P. R. Sinha, Bipul Chkrabarty, Brij Kishor Gupta. 2004. Indian Zoos Complementing in situ Conservation of Wild Animals. WAZA (World Association of Zoos and Aquariums) News. No. 2, Pp 7-8.

income is in place. An example is the construction of a new set of exhibits or facility if the project has to be phased then the overall higher cost and lower visitation during construction need to be accounted for.
Post-occupancy Evaluation

A zoo is a relatively easy institution to conduct post-occupancy evaluations in. Staff can be questioned, animals observed and visitors surveyed. In an existing zoo, as noted at the start of this article, the master plan process starts with just such an evaluation of the facility, so it is cyclical in a sense. Since a master plan usually takes years to implement, a post-project evaluation needs to wait until enough components of the master plan are in place to make a survey worthwhile. Results of the survey and observation point to mistakes as well as successes, and are inputs for the next round of master plan updates, which would typically take place on a 10-year or 20year cycle. The most effective way to ensure that the planning process succeeds is to develop a constituency within the zoo organization which will advocate for the plans implementation and the realization of their shared vision and dreams. This requires the designer to accept that the master plan is not the creation of a single individual or of a group of talented designers, but a collaboration of a team of specialists and zoo personnel.

Though there are thousands of zoos around the world, and hundreds of zoo planners and designers, there is a surprising dearth of published zoo design guidelines and manuals - a search on Amazon.com will tell you that. Most available information is in the form of articles in scattered journals and magazines which makes accessing the information time consuming. Part of the reason for this is that every zoo plan and every exhibit design is seen as a one-off solution to a unique set of site and programmatic conditions. Since zoo planning and design in India is a generally rarified field, there are few qualified professionals available to engage in these endeavours. In response to this the CZA has for over a decade, run workshops for its zoo directors, some of which were based on aspects of zoo design. More recently the CZA sponsored a training programme for zoo directors and managers on zoo master planning the proceedings are available from the CZA on CD by request. For those willing to become a paying member of the American Association of Zoos and Aquariums, there is a resource center on its website for AZA members. Finally, there is no substitute to visiting zoos around India and around the world, and learning through observation and documentation.

Dr. Brij Kishor Gupta is a Scientist working with Central Zoo Authority, Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India. He has over fifteen years of experience working with wildlife conservation, ex-situ breeding, zoo planing, design and management, and has contributed scientific papers to various national and international journals. He is also a recipient of PETAs 2007 Proggy Award for Animal Welfare Scientist. He can be contacted at brijkishor68@yahoo.com Adit Pal can be acontacted at aditpal@yahoo.com
All images courtesy Dr. Brij Kishor Gupta

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