The resource-based city shows a gradually decline behind the external prosperity in China. It has been identified that there were 262 resource-based cities in China . According to the different stages of developmentthe, the resource-based cities were divided into four types: growing, maturing, exhausting and renewing. Currently, 23 of them which have entered the exhausted post-transition phase of resource were called renewing cities. Thus, the focus of this paper is on the smart growth of renewing cities, whose core elements can be extracted from the essential characteristics showed in the process. Based on the thought of “smart growth” and aspects of “moderate exploitation”, “green ecology” and “social comfort”, the analytic framework of "smart growth", with 9 goals and 40 sets of variables relationships established, is formed. According to the statistical description and analysis of the existing data, in 40 sets of variables, there are 22 sets in line with the "smart growth" requirements; while 15 sets not ; and another 3 sets can not be judged. Finally, based on the results of the analysis, the path of “smart growth” for renewing city can be explained from aspects of city infrastructure supply, land development and utilization, energy saving and emission reduction, environmental protection and city agglomeration promotion, which are the key ares that government should focus on as well.