Abstract: With the help of CiteSpace software, this paper makes a quantitative analysis of 367 effective documents of urban development boundary in CNKI database in recent 20 years, combs the research hotspots of urban development boundary, and concludes three development stages: the theoretical development stage (1990s- 2005) with the background of rapid expansion, the stage of practice and exploration aiming at smart growth (2006- 2015), and the regulation improvement stage (2016 to present) which is a combination of inheritance and innovation. Then it analyzes the transformation of urban development boundary, and finds that the national policy has a strong guiding role. Under the background of land space planning, the practice space of urban development boundary is gradually expanding, the delimitation method is constantly innovating, and the hierarchical management and control is gradually implemented. On this basis, the paper analyzes the current management dilemma of Urban Development Boundary and points out the content and possible research direction that China needs to improve in the future.