The article analyzes the interaction of rural and urban settlement systems, the development of each of which occurs according to an individual scenario. The authors start from the idea of the continuity of the urban system of settlement in relation to the rural one, in the presence of its qualitative originality. Four stages of interaction between rural and urban settlement systems have been identified. The inertia of the rural system is shown, which is expressed in the preservation of the historical forms of its organization in the current state of settlement.