By the Seoul City Wall, Hanseong-bu was divided into two regions; an urban downtown space named as Seong-jung (성중; 城中) or Doseong-an (도성 안; lit.

[4]: 24–25  For example, Rites of Zhou instructs principle of '左祖右社 面朝後市' (좌조우사 면조후시), which means 'With the main palace at the center, Confucian royal ancestral shrine (祖) goes to the left, Altar of Soil and grain (社) to the right, cabinet buildings (朝) to the front, and marketplace (市) to the behind'.

Government Complex Seoul along the Sejong-daero (former Yookcho Street), and headquarters of largest companies around Jongno are clear examples of such time-honored history and tradition.

For example, from 1898 to 1904, when the Korean Empire maintained autonomy in state governance, tram (1899) and electric street light (1900) were first introduced to Downtown Seoul's cityscape.

Also, the Korean Empire's first Emperor Gojong relocated substantial parts of main palace's function from Gyeongbokgung to Deoksugung, and introduced modern railway transportation.

[7]: 75–76 However, as the Korean Empire lost substantial autonomy after signing Treaty of 1905, Japanese colonial officials began to drive cityscape reconstruction.

Some of notable tough reforms during this period includes reconstructing royal palaces into public parks and zoo, and modernizing city roads.

[4]: 28–30 Although the area of Downtown Seoul inside the city wall had maintained a single integrated urban sphere for about 600 years through Joseon dynasty and Korean Empire, Japanese Government-General on Colonial Korea divided Keijō's downtown area into two modern administrative divisions of Keijō in 1943; Jongno District and Jung District.

Abrupt partition of Downtown Seoul's urban structure by Japanese colonial government was influenced by ethnic distribution inside the area.

During the early periods of Colonial Korea, most of Japanese people were living in southside of the Cheonggyecheon inside the City Wall, an area named by Koreans as Namchon (남촌; lit.

Most of Keijō's influential economic institutions were newly constructed in southside of the Cheonggyecheon, even famous in the current names of Myeong-dong and Sogong-dong.

[11]: 92–95 As Downtown Seoul survived harsh bombardments during the Korean War, its valuable historic sites such as Gyeongbokgung and Jongmyo could be preserved as cultural heritages.

This excessive long history of Downtown Seoul's old town area discouraged urban regeneration in the 1950s as there were too many stakeholders left, creating tragedy of the anticommons.

[14]: 222  These policies prompted enthusiastic Korean parents, who wanted their children to get admission to renowned high schools by municipal lottery, to move to the Gangnam region, thus decreasing demand for housing inside Downtown Seoul.

For example, the empty site left by Whimoon High School at Jongno District was developed into the headquarters building for Hyundai Group in 1986.

[16]: 29–30 Downtown Seoul in the late 20th century experienced apparent change in its function, as planned by urban regeneration policies in the 1970s and '80s.

Jongmyo and Changdeokgung, both located in Jongno District and designated as UNESCO World Heritage Sites in the late 1990s, are clear examples of such recognitions, indicating South Korea was becoming a globally preferred tourist destination.

After overpass roads were torn down and the waterway was reopened, Cheonggyecheon became a famous tourist attraction, and nearby air quality also improved.

[20] Another major reason of the term's variability in social usage comes from a longtime lack of an official zoning plan that defines the exact boundary of Downtown Seoul until the 2000s.

In this early stage, city planning in Downtown Seoul had two consistent, yet sometimes contradicting goals: regenerating low-density old towns into modernized high-density business districts, while limiting the eventual output of such redevelopment to suppress overurbanization.

[22]: 43–44  These changing trend encouraged rediscovering function of the Seoul City Wall as cultural boundary between Doseong-an and Seongjeosimni, thus led to expanding administrative boundary under city masterplan in 2016 as following; Some part of Bugaksan to the North, some part of Namsan to the South (including the Seoul Station), Dasan-ro [ko] to the east, and Tongil-ro [ko] to the west.

This renewed boundary in year 2016 (See Figure 3. on the right) intends to include almost every areas of Jongno and Jung District inside the City Wall under scope of development restriction.

[2]: 12 Further notable point is usage of term 'Downtown Region' (도심권; 都心圈; Dosimgwon) in present day Seoul's urban planning.

[26] By its unpredictable potential power of swing voters, Jongno as constituency raised numerous political big shots who won elections from close match.

[37] For its unmatched symbolic status, Myeong-dong was still the most prominent financial district in South Korea until early 1990s, even after the national government relocated Korean Stock Exchange to Yeouido in 1979.

For instance, while Yeouido is a specialized business district mostly dedicated to financial industry, Downtown Seoul is concentrated with various largest companies, governmental regulators (such as the Financial Services Commission and the Korea Deposit Insurance Corporation), and foreign embassies influenced by Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Government Complex Seoul.

[44] Yet as South Korean legal industry began advancing towards more lucrative business area such as government relations for chaebols and multinational companies, distance to local trial court became less important for Big Laws.

[42] So while South Korean law firms having relative competency in ordinary day-to-day litigations are headquartered in Gangnam region near Seoul Central District Court, other firms pursuing market portion in corporate legal advice and government relations are headquartered back in Downtown Seoul.

To mitigate this high traffic congestion in downtown area, Seoul Metropolitan Government continuously put efforts on public transportation.

[50] Namdaemun-ro, a road connected to south end of the Ujeongguk-ro [ko], is another symbolic place for traffic congestion in Downtown Seoul.