Pocket parks have the characteristics of being small in size, low in expenditure, easy to access and flexible in shapes and location. Several studies have explored the environmental and social benefits as well as the design principles of pocket parks. However, a meta-analysis of research on pocket park is lacking. There is also no previous comparison of Chinese and English language research papers on pocket parks. This paper aims to systematically review 32 key English publications and 33 key Chinese publications from 4 databases (i.e. Google Scholar, Web of Science, CNKI, Wanfang Data). The results show that the definition of pocket park is only different in size when comparing English and Chinese papers. Moreover, the review highlighted the needs of exploring pocket parks in the areas of Latin America, Africa and Southeast Asia. The summary of research topics and trends provides a useful knowledge for future studies on pocket parks.