$a = '\u041a\u0440\u0430\u0441\u043d\u043e\u0434\u0430\u0440-01';
//1 способ
echo preg_replace('#\\\\u([0-9a-f]{4})#se','iconv("UTF-16BE","UTF-8",pack("H4","$1"))',$a);
//2 способ
print_r( json_decode('["'.$a.'"]') );

$str = 'ITowns.initialize({"groups":null,"towns":[{"id":80121,"name":"\u041a\u0440\u0430\u0441\u043d\u043e\u0434\u0430\u0440-01","island_x":732,"island_y":694,"plenty":"wood","r  are":"stone","has_conqueror":false,"researches":{"berth"  :true,"conscription":true,"mathematics":true},"favor":500},{"id":78218,"name":"\u041a\u0440\u0430\u0441\u043d\u043e\u0434\u0430\u0440-02","island_x":716,"island_y":708,"plenty":"iron","rare":"wood","has_conqueror":fal  se,"researches":{"berth":true,"conscription":true,"mathematics& ;quo t;:true},"favor":500},{"id":57664,"name":"\u041a\u0440\u0430\u0441\u043d\u043e\u0434\u0430\u0440-03","island_x":681,"island_y":706,"plenty":"stone","rare":"wood","has_conqueror":fa  lse,"researches":{"berth":true,"conscription":true,"mathematics&am p;qu ot;:true},"favor":500},{"id":46826,"name":"\u041a\u0440\u0430\u0441\u043d\u043e\u0434\u0430\u0440-04","island_x":679,"island_y":703,"plenty":"iron","rare":"wood","has_conqueror":fal  se,"researches":{"berth":true,"conscription":true,"mathematics& ;quo t;:true},"favor":500}';
$m = explode(',', $str);
foreach($m as $v)
{
	if($p = strpos($v, 'id'))
	{
		$id[] = substr($v,$p+4);
	}
	elseif($p = strpos($v, 'name'))
	{
		$name[] = substr($v,$p+6);
	}
}

echo '<br><br><pre>';
print_r($id);
echo '<br><br>';
print_r($name);
echo '</pre>';

function requester($url, $post = 0, $cookies = '', $head = 1, $body = 0)  
{  
      $cl = curl_init();  
      curl_setopt($cl, CURLOPT_URL, $url);  
      curl_setopt($cl, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, 1);  
      curl_setopt($cl, CURLOPT_HEADER, $head);  
      curl_setopt($cl, CURLOPT_COOKIE, $cookies);  
      curl_setopt($cl, CURLOPT_NOBODY, $body);  
      if ($post){  
          curl_setopt($cl, CURLOPT_POST, 1);  
          curl_setopt($cl, CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER, array('X-REQUESTED-WITH: XMLHttpRequest'));  //иммитируем AJAX запрос 
          curl_setopt($cl, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, $post);  
      }  
      $line = curl_exec($cl);  
      curl_close($cl);      
      return $line;  
}

$stranica = requester('ссылка ссылка ссылка', 0, $cook, 1, 0);

$m = explode(',', $vilages[0]);
foreach($m as $v)
{
	if($p = strpos($v, 'id'))
	{
		$id[] = substr($v,$p+4);
	}
	elseif($p = strpos($v, 'name'))
	{
		$name[] = substr($v,$p+6);
	}
}

echo '<br><br><pre>';
print_r($id);
echo '<br><br>';
print_r($name);
echo '</pre>';

 Array
(
    [0] => 51543
    [1] => e left\">\n\t
\n\t\t
\n\t\t
<\/div><%\n\t\tvar active_group_id = ITowns.getActiveTownGroup().id
    [2] => 
    [3] => n groups) {\n\t\t\t\tif (groups.hasOwnProperty(id) && parseInt(id
    [4] => = \"0\") {\n\t\t\t\t\tcontinue;\n\t\t\t\t}\n\n\n\t\t\t\tsorted_list = ITowns.getSortedTownGroupMapByName(group.id);\n\t\t\t\t%>\n\n\t\t\t\t
 <%= cssClass %>\">\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<%= (group.id === null ? msg_keine_gruppe : group.name ) %><\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t
\" class=\"town_group\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<% for (i = 0
    [5] => "g<%= id %>_splitted<%= splitted %>\" class=\"town_group\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<%}%>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"><%= ITowns.getTown(town.id).name %><\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<% if (group.id !== null) { %>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<% } %>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/li>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<% } %>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/ul>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<% }\n\t\t%><\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n\t
\n\t\t
<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>"});
)

ITowns.initialize({"groups":null,"towns":[{"id":51543,"name"     :"\u041a\u0440\u0430\u0441\u043d\u043e\u0434\u0430\u0440","island_x":788,"island_y":648,"plenty":"iron","ra     re":"wood","has_conqueror":false,"researches":{"berth":f     alse,"conscription":false,"mathematics":false},"favor":500}],"tmpl":"

$m = explode(',', $vilages[0]);
foreach($m as $v)
{
	echo $v.'<br>';
	if($p = strpos($v, '"id"'))
	{
		$id[] = substr($v,$p+5);
	}
	elseif($p = strpos($v, 'name"'))
	{
		$name[] = substr($v,$p+7);
	}
}

echo '<br><br><pre>';
print_r($id);
echo '<br><br>';
print_r($name);
echo '</pre>';

{"groups":null,"towns":[{"id":51543,"name":"\u041a\u0440\u0430\u0441\u043d\u043e\u0434\u0430\u0440","island_x":788,"island_y":648,"plenty":"iron","ra re":"wood","has_conqueror":false,"researches":{"berth":f alse,"conscription":false,"mathematics":false},"favor":500}]}

<?php

$json = '{"groups":null,"towns":[{"id":51543,"name":"\u041a\u0440\u0430\u0441\u043d\u043e\u0434\u0430\u0440","island_x":788,"island_y":648,"plenty":"iron","ra re":"wood","has_conqueror":false,"researches":{"berth":f alse,"conscription":false,"mathematics":false},"favor":500}]}';

$obj = json_decode($json);
print $obj->{'id'}; 

?>