Abstract: The transformation of resource-exhausted cities shows that the characteristics of stage evolution, and the synergistic evolution of composite system is the basis for its transformation and development to advanced stage evolution.To explore the transformation endogenous dynamics of resource-exhausted cities, an evaluation index system is constructed in four dimensions that resource endowment, ecological environment, economic development and social construction.Taking Huangshi City, a typical resource-exhausted city, as an example.The Harken model is constructed to identify the driving covariates of the synergistic transformation development of the composite system in Huangshi City in two stages of 2001-2010 and 2010-2019, respectively, and dynamically analyze the driving mechanisms of the synergistic transformation of the composite system in different time stages.The results show that during the period of 2001-2019, the composite system transformation force of Huangshi City show a fluctuating upward trend, and its transformation process is divided into two stages.Steady transformation from 2001 to 2010 and accelerated transformation from 2010 to 2019.The empirical results of the phased composite system synergistic process show that Huangshi City changes from the first stage of resource transformation-driven mode to the second stage of environmental transformation-driven mode.into a more efficient transformation-driven process.The transformation development is gradually moving away from the traditional resource-dependent model to the “social construction-environmental protection” driven model, and has entered into a virtuous transformation synergy.With the development of resource-exhausted cities, their endogenous transformation drive mechanism will also change, and the key transformation paths of urban transformation should be grasped to provide suggestions for promoting the synergistic transformation development of Huangshi City.