Recent studies highlight accelerated urbanization and industrialization significantly influence urban heat islands (UHIs). In Guangzhou, South China, three typical land-use types (e.g. urban village, residential district, and urban park) were selected to study their thermal characteristics and regulation mechanisms. Land surface temperature (LST) retrieved from Landsat 8 image was used to quantify UHI effects. The result showed that the minimum, maximum and average values of LST varied according to this decreasing tendency: urban village>residential district>urban park. Urban villages exhibited a warming effect, increasing LST values in buffer zones within 0-150 meters. Conversely, residential districts and urban parks demonstrated cooling effects, decreasing LST values in buffer zones within 0-90 meters and 0-150 meters, respectively. Notably, the cooling effect of urban parks was considerably more pronounced than that of residential districts. Furthermore, the LST of residential districts was influenced by their green coverage, building density, and population. A power function model was observed between green coverage and the inner LST difference within residential districts. LST was also significantly affected by the area, perimeter, and perimeter-to-area ratio of the three land-use types. As area and perimeter increased, the warming effect of urban villages became more apparent, while the cooling effects of residential districts and urban parks were amplified. The LST of urban parks was also affected by their internal ecological land-use types (including forests, water bodies, and grasslands) and landscape characteristics. Stepwise regression analysis indicated cooling effects could be enhanced by reducing landscape fragmentation, simplifying shapes and increasing division level of construction land, as well as increasing water area proportion and water patch aggregation within urban park plan. In conclusion, thermal landscape dynamics are obviously shaped by the degree of interaction between land use patterns and processes in urban area.