Rapid urbanisation requires cities to develop adaptive strategies, new programmes, and long-term visions. Concepts for urban futures need to outline operations that are sustainable in economic, social, environmental terms. The paper therefore presents a systematic description of cities by way of ‘Urban Business Models’ (UBM). As a method for the systematic creation of innovative city business models, UBM also contribute to debates on ‘Creative Cities’. The paper views cities as large-scale enterprises that need to balance complex social, economic, and environmental processes. Just as companies are to create profitable and sustainable operations, city businesses too need to establish a balance of activities, partners, investments, and value creation to maintain its functioning in the long run. On this assumption, the idea of business model creation was adopted from the field of economics to urban context by interpreting its components not from an entrepreneurial point of view, but from urban management perspective. In the context of urban management and planning, business modelling is a new perspective. So far, cities were rarely modelled as enterprises. Hence there are no descriptive formats for the comprehensive description and design of urban operations from an economic viewpoint, although extensive knowledge on business modelling exists in economic literature. Current disturbances and disruptions to established urban operations (e.g. through effects of globalisation, demographic change, digitization) force cities to quickly develop and validate alternative operational programs. UBM helps urban managers, planners, administrations and authorities to envision future cities, and to create innovative urban operations systems. With UBM, alternative ways of value creation, synergetic networks and business operations among stakeholders can be schemed and validated in terms of completeness, integration, sustainability.