"Safety should underpin every aspect of urban work," the statement said.
The emphasis comes in the wake of fatal accidents that have sent shockwaves through city planning departments all over the country.
A landslide hit an industrial park in Shenzhen on Sunday after a huge pile of construction waste collapsed and flowed down a hill, killing one and leaving 76 people missing.
On Aug. 12, two explosions ripped through a warehouse storing hazardous chemicals and residences nearby at Tianjin Port. The blast claimed 173 lives, including 104 firefighters.
Teng Wuxiao, director of Fudan University public safety research center, said there was a lack of systems in place to assess risks.
"In China, the government can deal with the aftermath very well, but more must be done to detect risks and prevent accidents," he noted.
INTEGRATING RURAL MIGRANTS
China's urbanization drive will integrate rural residents into cities by granting migrant workers household registration, as long as they have lived and worked steadily there for a set period of time, said Tuesday's statement.
While nearly 55 percent of the population live in cities, less than 40 percent are registered urban residents. Many migrant workers are denied "hukou" (official residence status), which means they are not entitled to equal education, employment rights and social security services.
China plans to raise the number of registered urban residents to around 45 percent by 2020.
CITY PLANNING
The size of a city shall not exceed the available resources and environment, Tuesday's statement said.
Currently, Beijing, Shanghai and Chongqing municipalities all have populations exceeding 20 million. Cities like Tianjin, Guangzhou and Shenzhen each have more than 10 million.
The statement said China will control city development in a bid to address aimless expansion.
More will be done to upgrade city clusters in the eastern region, such as encouraging migration to central and western regions, according to the statement.
China will also "largely complete" the ongoing renovation of urban substandard housing, underdeveloped areas in cities, and dilapidated housing by 2020.
