Objective In the context of enhanced construction of ecological civilization in China, the concept of urban green development and urban organic renewal continue to advance, the nature-based technology for rewilding of urban ecological space is rapidly developing, and the public’s awareness of ecological protection has increased, making the ecological and cultural values of urban wilderness increasingly prominent. The protection, restoration, and development of urban wilderness play an important role in increasing urban biodiversity, promoting the sustainability of urban ecosystem, enriching the cultural connotation of urban landscape, improving residents’ quality of life, and promoting cultural identity and community cohesion.

Methods This research analyzes the concept and connotation of urban wilderness with a focus on the ecological and cultural values of urban wilderness. With “urban” and “wilderness or wildness or wildscape” as theme search terms, the research reviews the progress of relevant researches at home and abroad over the past 30 years through the China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) core journals, CSSCI, CSCD, and “Web of Science” databases. Moreover, the research summarizes the existing research consensus, and discusses future research directions to be further explored.

Results The research shows that there are three tendencies in the academic understanding of urban wilderness, including “urban wilderness areas” that focus on the ecological characteristics of specific locations, “wildness experience points” that emphasize the wildness experience of urban residents, and “urban wildscape” and “urban wildness” that combine ecological characteristics of specific locations with resident experience. Different types of urban wilderness correspond to different processes of maintaining or restoring natural dominance. The wild nature formed by the high self-regulation capability of urban wilderness can provide ecological support services, provisioning services, regulating services, and cultural services to the city. These services play an important role in promoting urban sustainable development, improving residents’ quality of life, and promoting harmonious coexistence between human and the natural environment. However, compared to the support services and cultural services, regulating services and provisioning services still lack empirical research. Subsequent research may focus on performance evaluation of urban wilderness practice projects centering around the regulating services and provisioning services to comprehensively reveal the ecological value of urban wilderness. The research from the cultural perspective of urban wilderness mainly emphasizes residents’ subjective perception and experience at the spiritual level, involving residents’ natural image, landscape preference, and landscape experience of urban wilderness. Residents’ natural image of urban wilderness corresponds to residents’ perception of urban wilderness. On the one hand, the nature-dominated characteristics of urban wilderness may evoke contradictory perceptions. On the other hand, personal growth environment, frequency of contact with urban wilderness, values, and cultural backgrounds may also influence residents’ understanding and cognition of the natural image of urban wilderness. Residents’ landscape preference for urban wilderness reflects their specific evaluations of wildness. The spatial structure, management level and accessibility of urban wilderness, as well as residents’ age, gender, education level, cultural background, etc., may all influence their preferences for urban wilderness. Therefore, it is helpful to increase the public’s understanding, appreciation, and awareness of the ecological, economic, and cultural values of wilderness landscape through multimedia science popularization activities. Residents’ experience in urban wilderness is related to their pursuit of interest and emotional attachment to the wilderness. There is a consensus among scholars on endowing wilderness spaces with a core meaning of “experience”. Urban residents can experience wilderness by combining sensory experience and imagination. Urban wilderness also helps urban residents form attachment to places, thereby enhancing their self-esteem and personal identity. Therefore, designers may create private spaces for solitude and contemplation, set up viewing platforms to experience seasonal changes, and provide various recreational facilities to enrich residents’ experiences in urban wilderness.

Conclusion Based on the analysis of the ecological and cultural values of urban wilderness, this research summarizes three aspects of the connection between the ecological and cultural characteristics and values of urban wilderness for future exploration: the dynamic evolution of urban wilderness is a key feature that promotes wilderness perception; the nature-dominated characteristics of urban wilderness have a dual effect on cultural perception; the integration of ecological and cultural perspectives jointly influences the stability and development prospects of urban wilderness ecosystems. Finally, the research proposes several development suggestions for practitioners and researchers in landscape planning and design, including the formulation of technical indicators related to urban wilderness, the systematic identification and evaluation of urban wilderness areas that need protection and restoration, the determination of corresponding conservation and management requirements, the enhancement of publicity and education to promote public participation, and the promotion of multi-sector cooperation to form a multi-participation work pattern.