The implementation of 2030 agenda for sustainable development has become a global consensus，and cities have become the most important frontier for sustainable development. The resource-based cities have provided a strong guarantee of resources and energy for the national and regional economic construction. However，resource-based cities are faced with a series of problems in the industry，innovation，environment and ecosystem. It is of great practical significance to solve these development bottlenecks and find the sustainable development pathway for resource-based cities. So，this paper established a framework of sustainable development of resource-based cities based on the analysis of their current situation and bottleneck problems，then the framework was applied to Innovation Demonstration Zone for Implementing the 2030 Agenda of Sustainable Development （IDZSD） of Taiyuan to verify the validation and effectiveness. This paper proposed that the basic pathway of sustainable development for resource-based cities is the innovation-driven transformation and upgrading，which makes innovations in development concepts，key technologies，policy system，services system and cooperation platforms to promoting the overall transformation in economy，society and environment. With the development themes of “growth，ecology，low carbon，livability and happiness”，the pathway framework attached great importance to the industrial support，ecological protection，energy utilization，comprehensive urban function enhancement and well-being security，meanwhile，the pathway framework emphasized the multilateral cooperation and openness to the outside world.