The urban history courses contain a lot of detailed knowledge within a huge spatial and temporal span, thus relying on the chronicle-based structure of the current textbook alone is not enough to enable students to form a systematic knowledge system, grasp the development of urban history deeply, and connect historical knowledge with current design needs. To address these issues, this paper proposes to develop a knowledge system for urban history courses. With reference to the system framework of the textbook A History of Chinese Architecture, which takes chronicles and building function types as its two axes, this paper proposes to add an axis of city types in the teaching structure of urban history, classifying and comparing cities of different eras and regions. This paper then analyzes the characteristics of various city types in important urban studies at home and abroad, as well as the methods of integrating them into the knowledge system. These city types include the types of cities based on time, morphology, geography, population size and function. Various city types should be integrated according to their respective characteristics to form a city type knowledge system that takes into account the advantages of each. The type based on time is the basis of the knowledge system. The types based on morphology and geography are suitable as the axes of the knowledge system. The type based on population size is suitable for the introduction of the course. And the type of function is suitable to be applied in case-based teaching of specific cities. The application of this knowledge system in the teaching practice of urban history courses has achieved preliminary results.