Today, there is a need to assess the historical development of small cities in Russia in order to identify urban planning conflicts in the urban environment and determine promising directions for their resolution. This study is aimed at analyzing existing urban planning conflicts and disclosing the resource potential of the territory of historical buildings in the center of a small town on the example of Valuyki, Belgorod region. The authors uses conflictological and complex approaches. The analysis of the planning, functional and transport structure of the city is carried out. The analysis of the cultural heritage objects of the historical center based on historical and cultural reference plan of the city center is compiled. The current state of the riverside territories of the river Valuy in the central part of the city has been reviewed. A number of urban-ecological conflicts leading to the degradation of the coastal zone have been identified. Urban planning conflicts of the city center (social-functional, land-use, transport, etc.) are also identified and classified, their types are determined by the type of location (linear, point, areal), their participants and possible directions for their solution are identified. The promising directions of the development of the historical center of the city and the likelihood of the emergence of new types of activities for cultural heritage sites have been determined.