In order to reveal the land use pattern and intensive degree during the rapid development period of Tianjin Binhai New Area (TBNA) in recent years, land use change information of TBNA in the years of 1987, 1993, 2001, and 2006 were extracted by integrating TM/ETM images with remote sense software. Based on statistic method in conjunction with GIS, spatial-temporal changes of land use in TBNA during 20 recent years were revealed. Results showed that land use pattern significantly changed from 1987 to 2006, charactering by large increase of built-up land and decrease of water. Additionally, changes of built-up land or water showed consistent pattern in different periods, whereas farmland, grassland, woodland and unutilized land decreased or increased in different 4 periods from 1987 to 2006. Increase of built-up land was dominantly from water, and partly from grassland and woodland. Only a small amount of farmland changed to built-up land. Besides changes to built-up land, water also partly changed to grassland, unutilized land and farmland. The comprehensive index of land use degree gradually increased from 1987 to 2006, and change quantity and rate were all above 0, which indicated TBNA was in the land use development period. Additionally, urban land intensive use will be further enhanced in the future, providing effective safeguard for sustainable development of city in this study area.