Strategic urbanization needs new theoretical and methodological tools at the current stage of Russia’s territorial development. This article identifies prerequisites for a new approach to urban development based on strategizing the urban competitiveness. Using the general theory of strategy and the methodology of strategizing developed by Professor V.L. Kvint, the author studied the socio-economic phenomenon of urban competitiveness. The review of scientific publications involved a narrative bibliographic analysis, which made it possible to determine and classify the key factors of urban competitiveness. By strategizing the urban competitiveness, municipal authorities obtain scientifically based theoretical and methodological foundations for solving various issues of urban development. The review also highlighted urban competitiveness as a socio-economic phenomenon and revealed four groups of factors, i.e., social, economic, infrastructural, and institutional. The main prerequisites for strategizing the urban competitiveness should rely on a comprehensive analysis and forecast of endogenous and exogenous factors, while taking into account the dichotomy of the subject to be strategized. The main directions of strategizing should depend on the system of unique competitive advantages of the urban settlement in question. The approach and the basic strategizing principles introduced in this article do not complete urban competitiveness as a system: the matter needs further methodological research. However, the groundwork can be independently used to strategize urban development.