With the acceleration of China's industrialization process, quite a lot of developed cities have come to the watershed towards a post-industrial stage. The constant urgrading of their traditional industries has brought about an urgent need to redevelop the old industrial areas with a more scientific and realistic urban strategy. This paper takes Changzhou city as an in-depth case study of industrial land renewal from a perspective of sustainable development. In Changzhou, textile and electronic industries have constitued its economic base for decades, which occupied the majority of its industrial land throughout the city. However, in the following years, these urban industries will be moved out of the downtown area, and the formed lands be transferred into commercial, business, public service, cultural industry and residential use mainly. Based on the analysis of the current situation of the old industrial areas, this paper proposed three constructive views on how to improve these areas on the aspects of basic theory research, redevelopment mode, and planning methods. Secondly, it analyses the factors which affect the renewal of old industrial areas, and proposes the integrated and comprehensive sustainability assessment system that combines the economic, social, environmental and regional development. Finally, this paper focuses on and puts forth urban renewal strategies such as enhancing urban centre functions, regenerating land resources, optimizing the use of urban land resouces. (C) 2017 Published by Elsevier Ltd.