The authors of the article consider the problem of including ethnic cultures in the processes of sustainable development and the maximum use of the creative economy in Ukraine. Documents of international organizations, the results of research by famous scientists in the humanities, architecture and urban planning confirm the relevance of the topic of the article. The confrontation between global civilization and regional cultures, which manifests itself in the confrontation between progress and traditions, has intensified in the rivalry between postmodernism and modernism. The principle of postmodern inclusiveness, in contrast to the exclusivity of modernism, opens up new prospects for the preservation and renewal of traditions in many countries, including Ukraine, where twelve ethnic regions have developed historically. The authors of the article traced the historical stages of the development of ethnic cultures in these regions based on the original synergistic method of polarized cycles. This method focuses on the stable order of cyclical changes in the ups and downs of regional cultures, which makes it possible to diagnose and predict their development. The forecast indicates the leading role of small settlements in the sustainable development of regional cultures. In Volyn these are Volodymyr-Volynskyi and Zymne, Olyka and Gubkiv, Dubno and Klevan, Mezhyrich, Ostrog and Plyasheva. There are many more such centers in Galicia. Among them: Brody and Drohobych, Zhovkva and Zolochiv, Krekhiv and Olesko, Pidhirtsi and Pidkamin, Univ and Halych, Kolomyia and Kosiv, Manyava and Rohatyn, Berezhany and Buchach, Zbarazh and Kremenets, Skala-Podilska and Chortkiv. The centers of ethnic culture in the Sivers'kyi region are formed around Baturyn and Gustyn, Kachanivka and Kozelets, Lyubech and Nizhyn, Novhorod-Siverskyi and Ostra, Pryluky and Sokyryntsi, Akhtyrka and Hlukhiv, Putivl and Romny. In Podillya, these centers include Bar and Brailiv, Voronovitsa and Lyadova, Mohyliv-Podilskyi, Letychiv and Medzhibizh. There are no less centers of ethnic culture in Bukovyna and Zakarpattia, in Polissya and Prydniprovya, in Slobozhanshchyna, in Tavria and in Crimea. Monastic complexes, handicrafts, museums, fairs, monuments of architecture and urban planning are concentrated there. Their rational use and functioning determine the inclusion of ethnic regions and Ukraine as a whole in the processes of sustainable development.

The authors of the article considered the problem of the revitalization of the environment of rural settlements of Ukraine, which occupies one of the leading plac-es in the process of transition of the state to sustainable development. Today, Ukraine is taking the first steps in the transition period to sustainable development, and at this stage, the development - renewal, modernization, revitalization - of rural areas and settlements, which occupy about 63.5% of the country's territory, is gaining signifi-cant importance. The authors analyzed the strategic documents of the international and state lev-els, which determine the goals of transformation of all spheres of life of the country. Various aspects of understanding the process of development of rural settlements in Ukraine today are considered, in particular, based on the strategy of sustainable de-velopment. The paper highlights the results of theoretical elaboration of more than ten years of experience in designing master plans of rural settlements of Kyiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Sumy regions, to further identify patterns and establish principles of the revitalization of rural settlements based on sustainable development. This will help to predict future transformations of their structure, as well as to form the archi-tectural planning and spatial organization of settlements. The results of the study of theoretical sources and practice of designing rural settlements allowed us to identify several features that characterize the process of formation of a balanced and harmonious environment of settlements located in rural areas, as well as to systematize and determine the promising directions of their revi-talization based on sustainable development. The authors establish the types of func-tional orientation (specialization) of rural settlements production in Ukraine: logis-tics; crop and livestock production; Food Industry; tourism - ecological and ethnic; recreation and rehabilitation; science-intensive innovative production, etc. Multifac-tor analysis of resources and defined specialization of production provides an oppor-tunity to divide rural settlements into "promising" and "unpromising", and according to development options promising settlements in the direction of a certain "speciali-zation" to divide into mono-profile and multi-profile.