The goal of the master thesis was to find out the character of the settlements in the Velenje municipality due to urbanization. The main questions were the presence of suburbanization, its intensity, trends and correlation with the distance of settlements from the town. Groups of indicators for rural areas urbanization monitoring were defined through environmental, social and economic point of view, which ensure the use of sustainable development approach by development assesment. The analysis showed weak connection between the distance from the town to the settlements and the level of suburbanization in the municipality of Velenje. The urbanization of the rural areas in the municipality of Velenje is connected with the suburbanization of settlements close to Velenje in the periode of the town growth (until 1990). After this periode urbanization has moved further to more remote rural settlements. Discussed settlements were classified according to the level of urbanization into four classes: early urbanization, weak urbanization, recent urbanization and the most intense urbanization. The conclusion gives some proposals for rural settlements planning based on some additional studies. Urban and rural development plans should be comprehensive and holistic which ensure better control and reduction of the negative suburbanization impacts, and provide the basis for balanced development of the whole area
