The establishment of a protected area is the result of concepts, projects and legal decisions that throughout its existence delimit and define uses for a natural pre-existing reality. The present paper describes the process of creation and implementation of Tijuca National Park and Pedra Branca State Park and so understand how both parks "talk to each other", express in their territory and through representations assigned to them, the marks awarded from concepts of conservation, and take on new symbolic dimensions in permanent interaction with the urban space of Rio de Janeiro.
space and society; urban forests; national parks; environmental policies; conservationism; Rio de Janeiro