On September 1, 2026, Zoo Zurich released a plan for what it wants to be in 2050, and put it out for public objection.
The document is a cantonal Gestaltungsplan, a binding design and zoning plan. It replaces the one written in 1996 and it governs how the zoo can build for the next quarter century.
Eleven habitats on 27 hectares
The plan is for the roughly 27-hectare site to eventually consist of eleven habitats, each representing a conservation region somewhere in the world. Some are named:
- Pantanal wetland, currently under construction, for threatened South American wildlife
- Ndoki forest, planned as a naturalistic habitat for threatened African species including western lowland gorillas
- Sumatra rainforest, for orangutans among others
- A marine coast for penguins
The existing Masoala rainforest hall stays. The plan does not detail the remaining habitats.
The part that is really about cars
Roughly 1,200 surface parking spaces would move into an underground facility beneath the ASVZ sports field at Fluntern.
The land that frees up does not become more zoo. It becomes a publicly accessible nature area, and the plan names the species it is meant to support: hazel dormouse and grey-headed woodpecker.
“Das ermoeglicht uns, Strassenraeume umzugestalten, aufzuwerten und zu entsiegeln.”
This allows us to redesign, upgrade and unseal street spaces.
Simone Brander, city councillor, Zurich, in a statement translated from German
Unsealing is the operative word. It means taking up asphalt so water can reach the ground again. A zoo putting its parking underground and giving the surface back to native wildlife is making a conservation argument about its own footprint, which is a rarer thing than a new ape house.
Who decides
The Baudirektion of the Canton of Zurich is the authority that enacts the plan. It will review objections raised during the public consultation and then formally adopt it. The parking facility contract is a separate decision for the city council.
“Es freut mich, dass wir mit dem Gestaltungsplan eine solide Grundlage fuer die bauliche Weiterentwicklung des Zoos schaffen konnten.”
I am pleased that with this design plan we have been able to create a solid basis for the zoo’s structural development.
Martin Neukom, cantonal councillor and head of the building department, in a statement translated from German
No cost figure has been published, and no construction start date has been given for anything beyond the Pantanal wetland already underway.
Source: Zoo Zurich. Quotations translated from the German.
