The article looks at the stages of settling in the South-Eastern part of Moscow Oblast, it reveals main planning elements that form its architectural and spatial structure. These are settlements, transportation axes, population, town-forming elements, spatial connections, natural and ecological elements. The author arrives at the conclusion that different stages of settling are characterized by different planning elements. The dynamic processes in the systems of settling depend on the distinctive features and the correlation of planning elements. That is why a complex studying of these processes makes it possible to determine the optimal ways of settling development not only in the South-East, but in all Moscow Oblast, which influences on the formation of the agglomeration as a whole.