UBC Graduate Research

The City as Zoo : Seeking Coexistence Through Architecture Yee, Meredith

Abstract

As a demonstration of the relationship between humans and nonhuman nature, architecturally redefining the zoo has the potential to redefine problematic relationships that we hold with nature. By creating “zoos” in the city through multispecies architecture, spaces for coexistence, curiosity, and culture are created for humans and nonhumans alike, challenging what it means to be human or nature in the Anthropocene. The City as Zoo reveals the hidden relationships that already exist between human and nonhuman nature within the urban environment, and seeks to make them not only visible, but accepted. The City as Zoo places the human and nonhuman on equal terms, and celebrates the everyday interactions, phenomena, and beings that exist in the urban realm. Through architecture, the City as Zoo synthesizes the urban and the wild, culture and nature, human and nonhuman, creating spaces where city dwellers can realise their place within a dynamic ecosystem.

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Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International