1Zalihanov Alim
2Berezkin Mikhail
1,2 Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia
1E-mail: bulungu@yandex.ru,
2E-mail: mberezkin@inbox.ru
Abstract. The work traces the history of urban settlements of the world as centers of attraction, processing and consumption of material flows in the context of changes in the functions of cities from the Neolithic to the present. There is carried out resource consumption by cities at the beginning of the XXI century, current trends and pressure on the global ecosystem
Keywords: urban settlements, urbanization, resource consumption, energy consumption, environment