The article is devoted to the study of economic and legal aspects of digitalization as one of the priorities of the strategic development of the capital cities of the Ural macroregion. The relevance of the topic is due to the penetration into all spheres of life of the processes of formation of a postindustrial economy that are un-thinkable without digital technologies, currently unfolding in the Urals, generating new, previously unexplored trends in the transformation of urban economic systems. The methodological basis of the research is based on the theoretical positions of the innovation economy, strategic management, regional and spatial economics. The evaluation of the transformation processes of strategic guidelines for the development of cities, taking place due to the development of digital technologies, has been carried out using a combination of methods: logical, dialectical, cause-and-effect, content analysis, calculation of statistical indicators, etc. As a result of the study, barriers to managing digitalization processes were identified, prospects for the development of strategic planning in the area of setting priorities for scientific, technical and innovative development of cities were identified and recommendations for improving regulatory documents of the Russian Federation regulating forecasting and strategic planning were formulated. The article may be useful to university students, graduate students, research scientists, professionals involved in the development (actualization) of strategies for the socio-economic development of territories, state and municipal employees, as well as other interested parties.