“Villages in downtown” is a special social phenomenon during the progress of urbanization in China. The emergence of villages in downtown has its complicated historical and realistic factors. There are many problems in this kind of villages，such as dense and illegally built houses，dirty environment，complex population structure，difficult public security management，poor educational degree of most residents，low employment rate and so on. It has been seriously affecting the overall development of urban economy，social harmony and stability，and has become a major problem in urban governance. It has also become the focus of many domestic scholars. This essay is based on the core periodical literature of CNKI，through the knowledge map derived from Cite space，bicomb and ucinet，analyses the development context，characteristics and evolution trend of the problem of villages in downtown. This essay is with a view to providing valuable suggestions for promoting the transformation of China’s villages in downtown and solving the problems in the urbanization process under the background of the global economic going downturn，the intensification of various contradictions and conflicts and the acceleration of polarization between the rich and the poor.