The suitability assessment of regional construction land is one of the important prerequisites for the spatial arrangement in regional planning, and also, the important foundation for the reasonable utilization of regional land resources. With the support of GIS, and by using the regional comprehensive strength and spatial accessibility analysis and the eco-environmental sensitivity analysis, this paper quantitatively analyzed the development potential and its ecological limitation of the central and southern parts of Hebei Province. Besides, based on the cost-benefit analysis, the potential-limitation model was accordingly developed, and the three land suitability scenarios under different developmental concepts were captured through the interaction matrix. The results indicated that both the comprehensive strength and the development potential of the study area showed a primacy distribution pattern, and presented an obvious pole-axis spatial pattern. The areas with higher eco-environmental sensitivity were mainly distributed in the west regions, while those with lower eco-environmental sensitivity were in the east regions. Regional economic development concept had important effects on the regional ecological security pattern and urban growth. The newly developed principles and methods for the land suitability assessment in this paper could not only scientifically realize the spatial grid of regional development potential and capture the future land development trend and spatial distribution, but also provide scientific basis and effective ways for urban and regional planning to realize region 'smart growth' and 'smart conservation'.