Population growth and rapid urbanization has been converting large amounts of rural vegetation into urbanized areas. This human induced change has increased temperature in urban areas in comparison to adjacent rural regions. Various studies regarding to urban heat island have been conducted in different disciplines in order to analyze the environmental issue. Especially, different types of thermal infrared remote sensing data are applied to urban heat island research. This article reviews research focusing on thermal infrared remote sensing for urban heat island and urban planning studies. Seven studies of analyses for the relationships between urban heat island and other dependent indicators in urban planning discipline are reviewed. Despite of different types of thermal infrared remote sensing data, units of analysis, land use and land cover, and other dependent variable, each study results in meaningful outputs which can be implemented in urban planning strategies. As the application of thermal infrared remote sensing data is critical to measure urban heat island, it is important to understand its advantages and disadvantages for better analyses of urban heat island based on this review. Despite of its limitations - spatial resolution, overpass time, and revisiting cycle, it is meaningful to conduct future research on urban heat island with thermal infrared remote sensing data as well as its application to urban planning disciplines. Based on the results from this review, future research with remotely sensed data of urban heat island and urban planning could be modified and better results and mitigation strategies could be developed.