Although the origins of Xational Parks can be traced back to the 19th century, their establishment in many different parts of the world is one of the bequests of the subsequent century. The history of the nature centre, and related subcategories - interpretation centres, natural history contres, environmental education centres, environmental organisation offices and the like - is a much more recent, post-Second World War, phenomonon. That said, what constitutes a nature centre today is rather different from 50 years ago. As these centres and their institutional functions - for example, environmental education as part of school curricula - have become increasingly mainstream, ways of drawing the public into this emerging infrastructure have broadened. The role of the buildings plays a larger part in all this.
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