The contradiction of urban and rural heritage conservation has shifted from the encroachment of expansive development on the built environment to the impact of stock renewal on the continuation of heritage value. Historical parks, as built-up cultural landscape heritage, their style and feature evolution have witnessed the transformation of urban parks from traditional to modern over the past hundred years in terms of landscape evolution. However, due to the long existence of historical parks and the superposition of functions in different periods, their integrity and authenticity have been impaired, and they are facing serious challenges such as fragmentation of the characteristics of historical landscapes and unclear recognition of heritage values. Therefore, what are the characteristics of and mechanisms for the landscape evolution of historical parks? How to assess the heritage value of cultural landscapes in historic parks has become a key issue. With the help of CiteSpace knowledge mapping analysis tool, relevant studies from 2000 to 2023 in Web of Science Core Collection and CNKI database were selected for visualization and metrological analysis. Firstly, research hotspots and trends were sorted out through the maps of publication volume, keywords, and institutional cooperation network, and then the studies on feature identification, landscape evolution, value recognition and assessment from the perspective of cultural landscape were discussed. The results show that: (1) The issuance of relevant policies has an obvious guiding effect on the research dynamics. (2) The material research at the micro level is being replaced by the dynamic evolution of macroscopic layer accumulation. (3) The research methodology has been expanded from documentary archaeology to the application of multi-dimensional visual information technology. This clarifies the research shortage of historical parks in the process of shifting from static material conservation to value perception, with a view to providing reference for the renewal of living conservation of historical parks and the sustainable evolution of urban and rural heritage.