Abstract: Human activity is one of the most important factors that affects the changes of ecosystem service value (ESV), so the exploration of their spatio-temporal relationship would facilitate a coordinated development between ecology, environment, society and economy. By taking Xi'an metropolitan area as the research object, this study constructed four models including an ESV assessment model, an ESV flow gain/loss model, a human activity intensity (HAI) index assessment model, and a bivariate spatial autocorrelation model, based on the land use data in 1990, 2000, 2010, and 2018 at a grid scale of 2 km×2 km, so as to get insights into the spatiotemporal relationship between ESV and the intensity of human activities. The results of this study demonstrate that: (1) Between 1990 and 2018, the ESV in Xi'an metropolitan area showcased a continuous downward trend on the time scale, with a total decrease of RMB 1.28 billion yuan over the past 30 years; on the spatial scale, it showed an increasingly widened distribution pattern centered on Xi'an's main urban area, with an extension to the periphery; (2) The ESV gain mainly stemmed from the conversion of cropland to forest land, water and grassland, while the ESV loss mainly caused by the transfer-in of cropland and construction land as well as the transfer-out of waters; (3) The intensity of human activities showed a decreasing spatial distribution pattern from the center of Xi'an City to both of its northern and southern regions, with the high-impact zones concentrated in Xi'an's main city and its periphery, while the low-impact ones were distributed at the northern and southern ends of the research area; and (4) ESV is negatively correlated with the intensity of human activities, with the clustering relationships between the two dominated by low-high and high-low aggregation modes. The low-high and high-low aggregation areas have a high significance level. It is expected that this study on the spatiotemporal relationships between ESV and the intensity of human activities would provide theoretical support for the sustainable development of related regions.