In the past 20 years, China has experienced rapid urbanization as a consequence of economic reforms and population growth.  Urbanization is still proceeding at staggering speed. Therefore, the development of effective analytical methods to monitor the unprecedented growth of Chinese cities and the resulting environmental impacts are crucial for urban planning and sustainable development. The overall objective of this research is to investigate urban land cover change between 1990 and 2010 and the resulting effects upon ecosystem services by analysis of multitemporal Landsat 5 and HJ1-A/B images in three highly urbanized regions.