Abstract: In order to explore the ozone (O₃) pollution control strategy in the urban area of Shenzhen, the real-time observation data from an urban air monitoring station (i.e., Lianhua Station) during an O₃ pollution period in the fall of 2018 were used to quantify the impacts of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) on the formation of O₃. Based on the measurement results, an observation-based model was used to analyze the in-situ formation characteristics of O₃, identify the key VOCs components that affect the formation of O₃, and quantify their contributions to the formation of O₃. The results show that: (1) The O₃ pollution process was related to high temperature and low humidity, and the dominant wind directions were mainly continuous northerly, land-sea type with no prevailing direction. Due to transportation, the O₃ concentrations affected by the latter two wind types remained at high levels after sunset. (2) The model simulation results showed that the formation of O₃ under the influences of different dominant wind patterns in the urban area of Shenzhen were consistent. During the O₃ pollution events, the average value of the maximum hourly net production rate of O₃ was 12.85×10^-9 h^-1, and the contributions of HO₂·+NO and RO₂·+NO were 57.9%-60.2% and 39.8%-42.1%, respectively. (3) Relative incremental reactivity (RIR) analysis indicates that the formation of O₃ in the urban area of Shenzhen was VOCs-limited, and the key components were isoprene (from plant source) and four types of anthropogenic hydrocarbons (i.e., xylene, other aromatic hydrocarbons such as toluene, high carbon number alkanes and linear olefins. (4) A 20% reduction in the isoprene concentration and anthropogenic hydrocarbon concentrations could reduce the hourly peak concentrations of O₃ by 6.2% and 28.0%, respectively. Among the anthropogenic hydrocarbon species, reduction of xylene concentration was the most effective in reducing the hourly peak O₃ concentration (i.e., peak O₃ decreased by 10.1%). The results of this study show that the reduction of anthropogenic VOCs concentration can significantly reduce O₃ levels. We suggest that the sources of xylene species, especially motor vehicle emissions and uses of aromatic hydrocarbon solvents, should be an important control object. We also recommend strengthening the monitoring and research on carbonyl compounds to more effective control O₃ pollution.