[Objective] To evaluate urban intensive land use of 12 cities in the economic belt on the north slope of Tianshan Mountains.[Methods] With the consideration of economic, social and ecological effects of land use, we established the pressure-state-response (PSR) procedure model as an evaluation system. By applying the principal component analysis method, the urban intensive land use level and the PSR coordination level were calculated according to percentile.[Results] The main factors that affect the spatial variations of urban intensive land use in the study area is related to the urban economic development level, the pressure on urban intensive land use, such as population density, land use structure and economic growth, etc. According to the correlation analysis, there was a positive correlation between the PSR coordination level and the urban intensive land use level, and the Pearson correlation coefficient was 0.886.[Conclusion] To improve the level of urban intensive land use, planning and development should both be combined with the connotation of urban intensive land use according to the development goal and stage. Reasonable industrial transformation, optimal land use structure can be taken as effective ways to improve the comprehensive efficiency of the land use.