The new generation of ground- and space-based instruments allows studies of the star-formation properties of nearby galaxies in unprecedented detail. Most, if not all, newly formed massive stars are borne in star clusters with a well-defined set of masses and radii.

I will discuss new observational data characterizing the evolution of such clusters. There is increasing evidence for a rapid transformation of the structural parameters of the newly formed clusters into those of old globular clusters. A necessary consequence of this transformation is an intimate link between the cluster and the field star populations of the host galaxies. Therefore the observed stellar morphologies in late-type galaxies are largely the result of stellar and dynamical evolution over pc to kpc scales.