The Rotoroa Island and Auckland Zoo partnership: Connecting heterotopic spaces

Abstract

In partnership, Rotoroa Island and Auckland Zoo in the Hauraki Gulf have established a conservation sanctuary that has linked a literal sea‐bound island with an urban and metaphorical island. Each entity (Rotoroa and the Zoo) has a presence in each other's space. Ideas of archipelago as well as Foucault's heterotopia assist our interpretation of these developments as expressed in the observed landscape, policy documents and media sources. We conclude that an interpenetration of influences is enabling a diverse set of experiences within the controlled bounds of two intensely managed and insular spaces.