The implementation of green urban planning (GUP) is a crucial strategic choice to overcome the bottleneck problem of urban development as well as to advance green and sustainable urban development in China. By classifying and summarizing the origin, development, and practice of various GUP theories from China and abroad, this study revealed three main findings: (1) Garden City: the sprout of green city planning and thinking. Here, the GUP ideas were centered on the planning of a garden city, which attempts to integrate the spatial planning elements as a theoretical system, includes the overall idea of a green sustainable development concept, and advances the construction of a horizontal garden city. (2) Ecology and compactness: green development of urban planning thought. Ecological thinking, green urbanism, and sustainable development have further promoted the evolution of GUP thoughts. Among them, the practice of eco-urban construction has provoked a strong response in Europe and America, and GUP has continually developed and deepened. (3) Low carbon, ecology, and friendliness: the upgrade of green city planning thought. Here, GUP thoughts have been upgraded from a spatial-material environment level to a cultural-historical level and from a regional level to a global level with more emphasis on the composition of the social, economic, and natural systems. Looking forward to a new era, the development of GUP theory should be guided by the concept of ecological civilization, and the theoretical breakthroughs and standard system innovations should originate from five aspects: urban spatial structure, ecological environment, green infrastructure, industrial system, and policy measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]