In accordance with the criteria developed by the Government of the Russian Federation in 2014, 16 cities in the Chelyabinsk region received the official status of mono-industrial towns. Only four of them belong to the category single-industry towns with a stable socio-economic situation. For the rest, vital capacity remains a priority. One ways to solve the problem is creating territories of priority socio-economic development. The first residents of territories of priority socio-economic development in the Chelyabinsk region were registered in the city of Bakal. At the end of 2017 it was
joined by Verkhniy Ufaley with its potential investors. In addition to the territories of priority socio-economic development, the Chelyabinsk region develops industrial parks on the basis of mono-industrial towns to attract funds into urban economy and create
new jobs. The current paper features an analysis of the problems that the first territories of priority socio-economic development and industrial parks in the Chelyabinsk region are facing, as well as prospects for their further development
monoindustrial towns, a category of monoindustrial towns, the territory of advancing socio-economic development, industrial parks.