The purpose of this study is in methodology development how to define the image of historical city
based on Kevin Lynch’s theory, the image of city. Besides the usual elements (paths, edges, districts, nodes, and landmarks), our study additionally has focus on the ‘historical buildings or space’ with cultural value as a new element to extract the image from each historical city. In our research flow, the role of ‘historical buildings’ has been considered as a bridge that connects past-space and present-space. By doing so, the image of city can be investigated under continuous time line. And in this priory study, our concept has been adapted in a comparative city image research for Chiayi City (Taiwan) and Jeonju City (Korea) with each city’s pastpresent city maps. This approach can suggest a research to expect the changing of one city for the future, and can give advices to develop historical value in one city.