BEIJING, Dec. 21 (Xinhua) -- China has achieved remarkable results in urban construction and development, with a new urbanization model deeply advanced during the 13th Five-Year Plan period (2016-2020), a government official said Monday.

By the end of the five-year period, the built-up urban area reached 60,300 square km, with 684 cities registered in the country, said Wang Menghui, minister of housing and urban-rural development, at a national work meeting.

From January to November this year, 39,700 old urban residential communities in China have been added to a renovation project, benefiting nearly 7.25 million households as the country stepped up efforts to improve living conditions in old residential areas, ministry data shows.

In 2019, the per capita housing areas of urban and rural residents were 39.8 square meters and 48.9 square meters, respectively.

The minister called for efforts to promote high-quality development of cities in 2021, transforming development and construction methods to improve the structure, functions and qualities of cities, as well as deepening a new type of urbanization that puts people first, while building livable, green, resilient, smart and cultural cities.

Ecological restoration projects in the cities should be implemented in a bid to improve the quality of the living environment, while historical and cultural protection should be strengthened to shape city features, Wang said.