Annotation

The article presents the analysis of the influence of natural and landscape, social and everyday life factors, ethnical and cultural traditions on the formation of rural settlements, and the author emphasizes the importance of them all.

It is known that, from the standpoint of economic, functional, utilitarian and aesthetic requirements, only the most advanced planning decisions were selected during centuries. Also, specific natural conditions such as relief and climate, which influenced economical and cultural development of areas, architectural creativity and people's life in different countries, were taken into consideration.

According to the above interrelationships, village planning and rural estates developed, relations with surroundings and natural landscape, with place of work and outside world were formed. Under the conditions of lack of free land and population growth, new and various types of settlements were formed, for which establising mostly barren or unsuitable for agriculture land was used.

The author is tracing historical, industrial, economical and land relations, landscape and surrounding factors, which influenced the formation of planning structures of settlements. There are numerous examples of production, economical, historical and natural factors which closely interacted and affected the formation of planning structures. The author presents and analyzes examples of settlements, which, under the influence of various factors in the past, were formed as trading and agrarian villages, or trading and craft villages, etc. The architectural and planning development of public spaces (like market areas in former villages), which these days transformed into rural settlements, has been analyzed. Some individual settlements, which formed their planning structures under the influence of living needs of their residents and landscape and natural factors, clearly showing the spatial combination of architecture and nature, are presented, as well.