Abstract: The contents of intensive urban land use are abundant and the concept of intensive urban land use is related to multi-aspects. The authors indicate that intensive urban land use is a kind of land use manner, which can improve urban social benefits, economic benefits and ecological benefits by increasing the per unit area input of construction land. This paper takes 87 cities as researching objects in order to construct an appraisal indicator system of intensive urban land use, to analyze changing rules of intensive urban land use during 2000-2007, and create multiple regression models between intensive use index values and impact factors, and to analyze the causes of intensive urban land use change. In the research, analytic hierarchy and multiple regression analyses are used. The results are obtained as follows. (1) Appraisal indicator systems should be established by considering population carrying amount, economic input and economic output, and economic output is the most important influencing factor for intensive urban land use; (2) Changing trends of intensive urban land use average index values in Beijing is the highest, and the changing trends of the other 9 provinces are similar. Standard deviation of the average index values in Guangdong is the biggest, and the fluctuation of standard deviation of the average values is the largest. (3) Most intensive urban land use index values are in a range of 0.1000-0.2000. (4) The multiple regression between the intensity index values and some indicators is negative in some urban areas.

Key words: causes, eastern China, intensive use, urban land