###### Abstract  
As China rapidly urbanizes, land resources tend to deplete. This paper aims to identify and propose a resolution of land use conflicts to promote sustainable land use and coordinate the interaction between humans and the environment in urban areas. The methodology of land use conflict assessment within spatial zoning of the Su-Xi-Chang region was evaluated. Taking into consideration the intensity of human activities and the background condition of the natural environment, we divided the study area into a few regions. Furthermore, we developed a methodology by calculating landscape complexity, fragility, and stability based on spatial zoning so as to derive the spatio-temporal characteristics of the land use conflict index (LUCI) in the Su-Xi-Chang region. The results indicate the following: (1) According to the urban spatial attribute index (USAI) statistics, we delineate the core, fringe, and suburban zones of the Su-Xi-Chang region, which accounted for 9.61%, 11.06%, and 79.33% of urban agglomerations respectively; (2) from 1990 to 2018, the fragility index (FI) and LUCI showed S-shaped curves, while the complexity (CI) and the stability indices (SI) exhibited minor fluctuations in the fringe and suburb zones; and (3) intensive and severe conflict is concentrated in core areas due to quite intense human activities and in fringe areas due to an increased interaction between humans and land, while moderate conflict is mainly found in rural and suburban areas that pose as a natural environmental space. The results can serve as a theoretical framework for an effective identification of the LUCI in an urban agglomeration and coordination of the optimal allocation of regional land resources. 1 2022 2021 15 February 20221 15 February 20221 17 February 20221 15 February 20221 1  
thus increasing ecological risk [7; 8]. Therefore, it is useful to develop a feasible model to map land use conflict patterns in urban areas and determine conflict levels within a spatial division of urban agglomerations. The past decade witnessed a rapid increase in the number of studies about different research perspectives on land use conflict [9; 10]. Topics of such studies mainly include the mapping of the land use conflict pattern [11; 12], identification and intensity diagnosis [13; 14], and evolution and driving mechanisms [8; 15]. As for evaluation methods, three of them are mainly involved. Firstly, the multiple criteria evaluation method based on land suitability evaluation is used to identify the land use conflict [16; 17; 18]. The calculated result is accurate to some extent. However, it is also affected by the selected indicators of collected data. At the same time, the social and economic data and environmental variables used in the process of evaluating land suitability are difficult to accurately quantify for certain scales, such as the convenient living conditions of residents and the cultivated land reclamation conditions. Secondly, some scholars refer to rough numbers to determine land use intensity and evaluate land use conflict levels by calculating the difference in intensity between the actual and most adequate land use [19; 20]. This method is suitable for land use conflict identification and intensity measurement of large agricultural and dense forest land, rather than rapidly urbanizing areas. Lastly, other scholars have attempted to measure land use conflicts with a linear calculation model so as to calculate land use conflict in urban areas [21; 22; 23] while considering the spatial type, spatial structure, and spatial conflict process index of landscape units. Additionally, they tried to enrich the connotation of land use conflict with land use structure, land use transformation and landscape pattern conflicts. Nevertheless, previous studies still have several limitations. The distribution and evolution of land use conflict is rarely investigated within different urbanization levels. Land use conflicts are not only small social phenomena, but also geographical phenomena that show spatial heterogeneity.