Urban landscapes are geographical areas strongly affected by complex processes of urbanization. Urban landscapes are shaped by a series of interrelated processes of change – economic, social, demographic, cultural, technological, and environmental. Rural landscapes are non urban geographical areas with associated social, economic and cultural activities, land cover patterns, lifestyles, etc. The relationship between urban and rural landscapes becomes extremely complex and receives a growing attention in spatial and environmental planning. The aim of the paper is to point to the relationship between the environmental situation or environmental quality both in rural and urban environments with special emphasis on the territory of Slovakia and two selected areas (the Bratislava region and district of Žilina). Authors analyse the environmental situation by communes of Slovakia based on selected environmental indicators, the coefficient of ecological stability and the aggregated environmental index. Emphasis is laid on the comparison of the environmental situation by urban-rural divide of landscapes (areas). The comparison of urban and rural communes by comprehensive indicators demonstrates certain differences reflecting the fact that the higher value of aggregated environmental index given by the clearly better environmental infrastructure of urban communes is compensated by the distinctly higher values of the ecological stability coefficient in the case of rural communes. Both, urban and rural landscapes are highly dynamic and complex. Consequently, inventories of landscape conditions and monitoring of changes are needed in order to obtain reliable data for good spatial decision-making.