Urban industrial zones served as vital drivers of urban economic development, while many heavy and light industries were gradually relocated to surrounding cities and regions along with economic transitions. Renewal of these industrial zones is a critical approach to re-activate their social-economic values, while fostering environmental quality is an important requirement. In an era of climate change and urbanization, urban heat associated with extreme heat and heat island effects should be addressed urgently, which further requires the renewal of industrial zones to include heat-resilient strategies locally. However, most industrial zones have high-density hard surfaces, low vegetation coverage, and large building volume, making urban planners and designers difficult to conduct effective renewal actions. The Local Climate Zone (LCZ) system is an effective, standardized framework for quantifying heat-resilient performance. Therefore, this study aims to conduct industrial area renewal through LCZ transformation, via exploring the impact of different renewal principles and transformation models on thermal environments of industrial areas and quantify their cooling heat mitigation performance. The study was performed in a representative industrial zone with urgent renewal need. Based on LCZ system, thermal environmental challenge of this area was identified. Afterwards, a series of LCZ transformation scenarios were developed based on different renewal strategies, including green infrastructure enhancement renewal and functional structure reorganization renewal. Numerical simulations were then conducted to detail the thermal environments of different scenarios. By comparing simulation results, the cooling benefits of different renewal strategies were quantified, and their contribution to mitigating heat island effects was evaluated. Finally, targeted and actionable industrial zone renewal strategies and planning recommendations are proposed. Overall, this study provides a scientific basis for urban planners to advance the transformation of industrial zones into greener, more livable, and sustainable industrial zones, and methodologically demonstrates LCZ system’s advantages in urban renewal.