To grasp the development trends in urban emergency management research under extreme circumstances, a systematic review of the main studies and research characteristics in this field has been conducted. Using the scientific knowledge mapping tool VOSviewer software and Web of Science Core Collection (Wos CC) as the data retrieval source, this article performed a visual analysis on research literature on emergency management in extreme situations. The results show that in recent years, the research on urban emergency management in extreme situations has been increasing year by year, but the overall number of articles published is not much, with a total of 145 articles from 2004 to 2024. The United States, China, Australia are among those with the highest number of research papers, making significant contributions to the development of this field. Obvious research teams have been formed, mainly in China and the United States, but there is a lack of international cooperation. Through cluster analysis, the research topics can be summarized into five aspects, namely, disaster prevention management, disaster prediction models, urban vulnerability analysis, smart cities, and the impact of climate characteristics. Currently, as the probability of cities facing extreme risks increases, it is urgent to strengthen international cooperation, fully utilize the latest technologies such as artificial intelligence and big data, and construct a theoretical system for urban emergency management capable of facing extreme situations.