Evaluation method of urban land population carrying capacity based on GIS-A case of Shanghai, China

► We evaluate the grades of carrying capacity for heterogeneous land use spaces using various indicators. ► We estimate quantitatively population carrying capacity according to the spatial grading. ► The study indicates that there is still potential in population carrying capacity in Shanghai. ► This new estimation method improves the credibility of estimation results. ► This method is liable to re-estimate dynamically with GIS.