The article deals with proposals for directing settlement development and management in Slovenia on the national level. They should be integrated in the spatial order, a part of the national spatial plan. First a short chronology of research with similar topics and simultaneous critical analysis is presented. The methodology and possible models for structuring directives is elaborated. Based on recent research by domestic authors, European guidelines and own ideas, a manual was devised, dividing guidelines hierarchically between the national, regional and local level. The second part or rather different type of text attached to the manual is a glossary. It also includes an index for further research of various sources.