The relevance of the study is determined by the unprecedented growth in the context of media reality's digitalization of the global competition of cities, as reference points for the development of national economies. This competition requires the accumulation of all available resources and, first of all, those that have an impact on the growth of human capital, the acceleration of information exchange and an increase in the creative potential of cities.

One of the important factors in the growth of creative potential is the development of urban public spaces. The authors focus on the fact that the phenomenon of public space is undergoing significant changes in the conditions of a networked, digital society.

In this context, the authors analyze the shifts in the meaning, role and place of urban public spaces in the strategic development of cities in the era of the fourth industrial revolution and increasing their competitiveness using the example of Moscow and St. Petersburg, as the brightest centers of creative development in modern Russia.