Abstract:Taking Wujiang District of Suzhou as an example, the conventional meteorological observation data from 1971 to 2016, automatic meteorological observation data from 2004 to 2016, population and area data of all towns in 2016 in Wujiang District and the ASTER GDEM elevation data in 2016 and the satellite remote sensing data of Landsat 8 OLI TIRS_in 2016 were used to calculate the climate suitability index, ground cover index, hydrological index, lake land breeze index and comprehensive index of natural suitability of human settlement environment respectively in this district after a lake-land breeze index was introduced into the suitability evaluation system of natural environment of human settlement and a buffer zone was established. Consequently, the natural suitability of human settlements in Wujiang district was evaluated in different regions and grades. Results show as follows: (1) the natural suitability of human settlements in Wujiang district is gradually decreasing from the west to the east. (2) Affected by the local climate with the prevailing lake-land breeze, vegetation coverage, terrain, water body distribution and other factors, the generally suitable areas were mainly located in the northeast and southeast of Wujiang district, moderately suitable areas were distributed in the north-central and southern parts, higher suitable areas were located on the coast of Taihu Lake west of the central part, and highly suitable areas were located in the southwest area close to Taihu Lake, with extremely high suitable areas, extremely suitable areas were located in a partial area of the southwest corner. (3) After the introduction of lake-land breeze index, the evaluation results can better reflect the key role of lake-land breeze circulation on local climate. (4) After the establishment of buffer zone, the hydrological index distribution can more objectively reflect the impact of water distribution of different scales on the natural selection of human settlements in Wujiang district.