Objective The global push for green, carbon-neutral, and sustainable urban development has brought attention to the vast number of urban industrial wastelands in need of revitalization. Nature-based Solutions (NbS) offer a promising avenue for addressing the ecological challenges posed by the aforesaid urban industrial wastelands, which can facilitate the sustainable transformation of urban spaces. By embracing NbS, we can maintain the naturalness and wildness of urban industrial wastelands while achieving environmental, climatic, social, and economic benefits. Rewilding is steadily gaining traction as a method for renewing urban industrial wastelands. However, despite the global growth and conceptual development of rewilding, it still lacks a universally accepted definition, and knowledge regarding its application in urban industrial wastelands is limited. This research aims to address the aforesaid problem by analyzing international research on and advancements in the rewilding of multi-scale urban industrial wastelands and based on the analysis results, propose theoretical and practical approaches for restoring and protecting ecological environments and renewing urban spaces in urban industrial wastelands in China.

Methods This research conducts a systematic analysis of multi-scale research on rewilding of urban industrial wastelands over the past two decades. Based on scientific bibliometric methods, visual analysis software (CiteSpace), and a literature review, the research evaluates global development trends, trans-regional collaboration networks, and cutting-edge research hotspots with respect to the research on urban industrial wastelands. Bibliometric analysis, through statistical mathematics, allows for the assessment of current research and the prediction of future trends and priorities. The Web of Science database, an internationally recognized multidisciplinary citation database including a wide array of vital scientific research, is taken as the primary resource for literature retrieval. Utilizing “wilderness” as a value prototype and applying a logical deduction method, a value system for industrial wasteland rewilding is established. This system comprises five key aspects — naturalness, cognition, instrumentality, “goodness”, and aesthetics — including ecological, cultural, economic, humanistic, and aesthetic values.

Results This research clarifies the connotations of urban rewilding in landscape architecture. Urban rewilding is understood as a design approach that can reshape post-industrial landscapes. This approach presents a way to minimize the expenses associated with wasteland rehabilitation and management, while simultaneously boosting biodiversity conservation and allowing for both mitigation of and adaptation to climatic effects. Moreover, value-oriented research and practices focusing on rewilding urban industrial wastelands currently face four significant global challenges. 1) Building a robust research consensus necessitates cross-regional synergy and enhanced inclusiveness and collaboration across disciplines, regions, and stakeholder groups. 2) Conducting impactful rewilding research and practice requires a multi-scale approach based on the planning for ecological restoration of municipal territorial space. This allows for a thorough exploration of the meaning, type, and achievability of urban rewilding in a Chinese context, and can help realize more accurate evaluations of necessary and feasible interventions. 3) Expanding the understanding and acceptance of urban rewilding hinges on public engagement. It is crucial to involve relevant stakeholder groups in the planning and design processes, and in the expansion of plans for integrating nature into industrial spaces. 4) Enhancing the aesthetic appreciation of urban-industrial spaces can be achieved by highlighting the multiple values in naturalness. Encouraging the perception of beauty and value in natural ecosystems through multi-sensory experience represents a key aspect of this challenge.

Conclusion As a novel NbS aiming to conserve and restore urban ecosystems, urban rewilding can not only address complex ecological challenges but also establish a connection between positive natural experience and industrial heritage across various scales. Urban rewilding offers an economical and effective land management strategy focusing on establishing self-sustaining landscapes that are low-cost, require minimal intervention, and have high viability, which can help enhance the natural character and wildness of urban areas. Such landscapes can demonstrate the unique features of former industrial sites while offering the city with a wealth of new cultural, ecological, aesthetic, and recreational assets. Therefore, it is critical to further conduct in-depth and comprehensive research on urban rewilding from a global perspective. This holds immense theoretical and practical significance, as it can inspire innovative ideas and design methodologies for the ecological revival of urban wildscapes, and offers valuable insights for restoring the ecosystems of urban industrial wastelands in China, thus protecting natural resources and biodiversity, and promoting environmental education and aesthetic appreciation among the public.