Regional land use change is an important part of global change,especially in the areas where local economy is developing rapidly.The Su-Xi-Chang(Suzhou-Wuxi-Changzhou) area is one of the hot spots for socio-economic development in China,the land use change will be improved greatly.Based on the Landsat TM data in 1980,1995 and 2000,measurement of Su-Xi-Chang area's land use change was conducted with the support of RS and GIS.Based on the land use change matrix and the local social data,economic data and environmental data,the characters and the effectiveness of land use change was conducted.Conclusions of the study are drawn as follows: (1)Construction land expanded rapidly at the expanse of encroaching cultivated land.The quantity of construction land in 2000 was 1.77 times of that in 1980 and 42.48% of the increased part rooted in cultivated land,most of which was high quality paddy field. (2)Rural residential area spread at the same time in despite of the consolidation.From 1980 to 2000,rural residential area increased 480.55 km₂ at the same rate of construction land increase.Despite of the rapid urbanization of the population,the urbanization of the land was laggard. (3)Cultivated land decreased rapidly with the trend of fragmentation and decentralization,the other land use types were centralized comparatively at the same time,especially construction land.The landscape diversity increased with the decrease of the landscape dominance. (4)Construction land expanded with the core of cities and traffic line.The land use transformation became more intensive with approach to the city and traffic line. (5)The land use change get good effect at the aspect of economic and society,focusing on the urban area.The GDP of industry and commerce,the local financial input,the gross output value of agriculture,the personal income and the number of employed got increased with the land use change. (6)The environmental effect of land use change was not good,focusing on the urban areas.The pollution became more serious with the expansion of construction land.Since 1995,the industrial pollution has been under control and reduced,but the urban pollution aggravated simultaneously.