This article discusses data obtained in a study about populations who live nearby an important Brazilian Atlantic forest, which is a geographical zone of the north-eastern states between the beach and the barren area, called Ecological Station from Murici (Esec-Murici), situated in the Murici Forest Complex (CFM), in the forest zone of Alagoas, distributed in two Incra rural settlements and in farms. Cultural forms expressed by such populations have been discussed from some social indexes present in this survey, associating them with economical and environmental sustainability notions in their interfaces with these groups' social development and the concerning from the other agents that act in the CFM, suggesting that the maintenance of an urban imaginary which produces new subjectivities can be put together with an environmental conservation policy on very easy terms.
anthropology; environment; rural settlements; urban culture