For the last century, automobiles and the roads they require have been a dominant force shaping the modern American landscape. An unrivaled interstate highway system connects major metropolitan areas and is the basis of our transportation infrastructure. Unfortunately, many roadways were not planned or designed with wildlife in mind. As long linear features in the landscape, interstates can function as landscape barriers and cause significant impacts to adjacent wildlife populations. While an aggressive transportation system is being carried out, researchers have only marginally demonstrated the relationships between roadways and wildlife. In such cases, twinned interstate roadways have proven to be the greatest obstacle for wildlife resources. By incorporating ecological design theory into highway planning and design, the transportation community has an opportunity to reassess the short comings of existing highway infrastructure and improve functions of wildlife passage and landscape connectivity. Through system level approaches and analysis applied within an eco-region context, practical solutions can be developed. The following document provides a process for landscape level analysis, wildlife passage structure design and implementation for future planned interstates projects. As a collaborative effort among professionals, we can work towards improving interstate highway systems and retain the relationships occurring within the landscape. The following I-81 design and planning project offers an exceptional opportunity to reassess the inadequacies of the existing interstate infrastructure in terms of landscape connectivity, wildlife resources and public safety, and demonstrate how system level design approaches can give our roadways new shape and form. / Master of Landscape Architecture

Det är allmänt känt att det sker en kontinuerlig ökning av världens befolkning och följden av detta är att städer växer kraftigt. Det medför en förtätning i stadskärnan och som en konsekvens sker en konflikt mellan grönstrukturen och nybyggnationer. Varje kommun strävar efter tillväxt och balansen för hållbar tillväxt är subtil och det är här intresset för uppsatsen grundar sig.  Uppsatsens syfte är att undersöka hur stor plats grönstrukturen får i planeringen av Karlstads stadskärna. För att besvara syftet studeras förtätningens olika utmaningar, samt hur ekocentrism och antropocentrismens etiska synsätt uttrycks i planeringen. Synsätten skapar en förståelse för hur och för vem stadsrummet planeras för. Det finns en skildring i planeringen där antropocentrismen under en längre tid kritiseras av ekocentrismen. Det har genomförts en kvalitativ metod för att besvara syftet och frågeställningarna. En dokumentanalys har utförts, samt en gruppintervju med representanter från Karlstads kommun. Resultatet om grönstrukturen i centrum visar sig ha många likheter mellan de olika metoderna, vilket ökar uppsatsens trovärdighet. I samband med att staden förtätas minskar gaturummet och det leder till att det skapas en konflikt mellan olika aktörers intressen för platsens användning. Aktörer har ett stort intresse av en hög ekonomisk tillväxt och det innebär att grönskan värderas lägre i planeringen mot en hållbar stadsutveckling till skillnad från bostäder, verksamheter och parkeringsplatser. Grönstrukturen saknar riktlinjer i planeringen, vilket gör att grönskan är svår att motivera när samhällsplaneringen styrs av en antropocentrisk syn. Sammanfattningsvis skapar det svårigheter när grönstrukturens plats ska motiveras i Karlstads växande stad. / It´s commonly known that there is a continuous increase of the world´s population and the consequence of this is that cities are growing rapidly. This means a densification in the center of the city and a consequence of this is a conflict between the green structure and the new construction. Each city seeks for growth and the balance for sustainable development is subtle and this is where the essay found its interest.  The purpose of the essay is to look over how big influence the green structure gets in the planning of Karlstads city. In order to answer the purpose, the various challenges of the densification are studied, as well as how ecocentrism and anthropocentrism ethical approach is expressed in the planning. The approach creates an understanding of how and for whom the urban space is planned. There is a depiction in the planning where anthropocentrism has long been criticized by ecocentrism. A qualitative method has been implemented to answer the purpose and the questions. A document analysis has been performed, as well as a group interview with representatives from Karlstads kommun. The result of the green structure in the city proves to have many similarities between the different methods, which increases the credibility of the essay. In connection with the city being densified, the street space decreases and this leads to a conflict being created between the various developers interests for the use of the space in the city. Developers have an interest in high economic growth and this means that the greenery is valued lower in the planning for sustainable urban development, unlike housing, businesses and parking spaces. The green structure lacks guidelines in the planning, which means that the greenery is difficult to justify when the planning of society is governed by an anthropocentric view. In summary, it creates difficulties when the location of the green structure must be motivated in Karlstad's growing city.