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As of the 1980s, 'urban problems' have come to be perceived and treated in new ways in Brazil. Innovations introduced into public administration and legislation, at both the national and local levels, accompanied a broader social process and created conditions in which urban regulations, planning and management not only were equipped with new mechanisms for intervention in the urban context, but were submitted to a new approach structured around respect for environmental concerns. The ideas developed in this article begin with an outline of environment-related litigation in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil offered as a way to identify the actors that are able to ensure that their demands and arguments for environmental protection circulate publicly. The second section is designed to begin the task of identifying the available repertoire of versions of the environment as a social problem in Rio de Janeiro. Some remarks are called for here in order to mark out the terrain on which environmental conflicts occur in Rio de Janeiro? The first relates to the role played by public institutions, which goes far beyond their participation as parties to litigation.