The sustainable development of regions requires the adoption and implementation of concepts that will enable the functioning and development of urban and rural agglomerations. The development of equal relations between the city and the countryside remained on the sidelines of the mainstream regulations and mechanisms of European Union policies, including the common agricultural policy. The emerging new assumptions and concepts of development after 2020 indicate that a coherent development implemented within the framework of rural – urban partnerships is to be an immanent element of sustainable development of rural areas. New development proposals, called Smart Village and Slow City, have appeared in this concept, in which the characteristic features of management and functioning between rural and urban areas are particularly visible.