Green space effectively maintains urban ecological environment, improves life quality, and promotes sustainable development. Taking Nanjing and Greater Manchester as study cases, based on the land use data from remote sensing interpretation, this study used a combination of mathematical statistics and GIS spatial analysis methods to analyze the evolution of green spatial patterns in terms of general characteristics, gradient characteristics and evolution characteristics, in order to provide scientific reference for the protection of green space and sustainable urban development in Nanjing. Results showed that the green space has increasingly decreased from 2000 to 2010 in Nanjing, and in Greater Manchester, decreased first, then increased from 2000 to 2011. The area of green space gradually increased from the central area to the suburbs and the suburbs in both cities, and in Nanjing it significantly changed in the suburbs and outer suburbs, while in Greater Manchester the changes were mainly in central and suburban areas. We also found that the new towns were the main transfer areas of cold spots while the central areas are mainly the hot spots transfer areas in Nanjing, and outspread shrinkage was the main evolution model; meanwhile, in Greater Manchester, green space had a lower changing intensity as well as smaller cold & hot spots numbers and more scattered distribution, and the evolution model was dominated by endocytosis-type in construction land. This study argued that Nanjing should improve the compactness of the city and regulate the relationship between construction land and green space through land redevelopment and functional replacement within construction land.