The paper defines the economic-urban planning relations in the development of cities in the historical context, in particular: the genesis of economic sphere of global civilization’s societies is defined and the directions of economic views of various historic periods are characterized; the impact of economic factors on conditions of location and spatial organization of a city in various historical periods is revealed and the links between economic and spatial factors in the city development are determined. The historical-logical method was used for the research. Economic-urban planning relations of the cities of Ancient World, Middle Ages and other periods are analyzed, in particular: the system of methods, instruments and forms of state impact on socio-economic processes in cities, masterful use of space specifics and its organization in cities. The set of methods and instruments oriented at solution of tasks of cities’ spatial and socio-economic development is outlined. The features of economic policy and peculiarities of approaches to organization of cities’ economies in various historical periods as well as the contribution of various civilizations into the cities’ economic structure and space organization are emphasized. The paper proves that polis socio-political organization of Greek cities turned out to be more flexible in solution of economic issues than socio-political organization of centralized Eastern despotisms. Compared to the primitive society, the ancient nations took a huge step forward in their developemtn, however the destructive military policy and the «flaws» of forced labour caused the collapse of the states. The Middle Ages developed the elements of economic policy that served as foundation for further economic development of European cities, although the forms and nature of their manifestation differed depending on economic, natural and cultural traditions of the cities’ development areas. In the period of market economy, the relations between capital and labour showed the spatial structure of the cities, the functioning-planning infrastructure and socio-economic relations, etc were formed and the condition of environment and architecture was determined. The paper confirms the dependence between socio-economic processes and spatial feature of cities. On one hand, cities’ development depends on economic foundations – forms and sources of capital, system of pricing, fiscal policy and state’s participation in economic processes, and on the other hand – localization, natural conditions and distance define the spatial differences of cities and processes in them. Availability of systemic effects in terms of harmonization of socio-economic and territorial dimensions is proven. 

city economies, history of economy, economic theory, urban planning policy, economic-town-building relations