The article considers the features of the location of small historical settlements - carriers of the architectural and urban culture in 12 ethnic regions of Ukraine. Among them: Bukovyna, Volyn, Halychyna, Donbas, Zakarpattia, Crimea, Podillia, Polissia, Naddnipryanshchyna, Sivershchyna, Slobozhanshchyna, Tavria. For the analysis, an original method was used to identify the areas of historical settlements and the formation of the corresponding 57 polygons. The areas that form the centers of regional culture are identified according to the principle of territorial proximity of settlements, taking into account the tracing of communication routes between them. Accordingly, the polygons are formed from small towns with historical monuments of architectural and town-planning art, which are connected to each other along the perimeter in the shortest possible way by regional and local roads. For example, on the territory of Bukovyna there are 10 villages, small towns, settlements, castles and monasteries, which form 2 polygons around Chernivtsi: the western (Kitsman, Vyzhnytsia, Storozhynets) and the eastern (Khotyn, Novoselytsia, Banchaky, Boyany, Molodiy). As a result, groups of small provincial cities and towns, towns and villages, temples and monasteries were formed with signs of a historical architectural environment. In each ethnic region, a different number of such groups have been formed, which form the corresponding number of polygons: Bukovyna – 2, Volhynia – 4, Galicia – 6, Donbas – 4, Transcarpathia – 2, Crimea – 3, Podillia – 5, Polissia – 8, Naddnipryanshchyna – 6, Severshchyna – 6, Slobozhanshchyna – 4, Tavria – 6. The identified groups of historical architectural and urban centers require further thorough study. The results of these studies can be used to develop a concept for the restoration and further sustainable development of the historical settlements of Ukraine.