Abstract Background Greenbelt, known as the most restrictive form of urban containment policy, is a geographical boundary around a city or urban region to prevent urban sprawl. In the present study, the urban greenbelt plans were investigated with spatial, temporal, and statistical attitudes in Mashhad city, Iran. Spatial and temporal data analyses were carried out in ENVI, and GIS programs based on satellite imageries in addition to the expert analyzes of SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) and QSPM (quantitative strategic planning matrix) matrixes to achieve the key strategies concerning the revitalization of a new greenbelt plan. Results Four temporal sequences of Landsat imageries were extracted for 1988, 1998, 2008, and 2018 to classify the expansion of real estates and urban sprawl. The results showed that the legal greenbelt plan failed after 10 years because the status of greenbelt in 2018 revealed nearly of occupation by sprawl expansion over than 20%. Then a new greenbelt plan was proposed around the city. Based on the lowest value of the environmental change index (ΔY i ), with an average of 0.14, the proposed greenbelt plan will demonstrate an optimum efficiency in the future time intervals (2030–2050). Conclusions Therefore, expert analyzes of SWOT and QSPM matrixes were shown that the essential weakness of greenbelt planning in the Mashhad city depends on the lack of a legal mechanism to conserve the greenbelt boundaries. Therefore, the total sum score of external factor’s matrix with the value of 2.65 demonstrated that the opportunities for greenbelt planning in the study area are more effective than threats in the study area. Ultimately, six key strategies in greenbelt planning were presented to achieve a general equilibrium through future urban development.