This PBE-based study reorganizes the 4th-grade elementary social studies learning contents in the 2015 revised curriculum around achievement standards to ensure actual localized learning. ‘Seoul Metropolitan Government’ was selected as the case area, with a focus on the ‘Han River’ as a specific place. After applying to the three-time program, quantitative and qualitative studies were conducted to analyze students' cultivation of regional identity, changes in perceptions of the Seoul area, and the program’s overall effects on students. The results confirmed through this study are as follows. First, this program fostered a healthy regional identity rooted in the place by students and positively changed the perception of the Seoul area. Second, this program effectively induced civic participation, which has always been emphasized in social studies, to foster practical democratic citizenship of students. Third, it was confirmed that place-based education(PBE) is an effective way to develop core competencies in social studies. Learner-centered inquiry learning, cooperative learning, and practical activities in the community naturally led learners to acquire core competencies in social studies. Fourth, learning about a 'place' close to the learner's life deeply engaged the learners during class created awareness of the joy of learning, and connected students' lives and education. Through this study, students will grow up to be excellent democratic citizens with a sense of responsibility as social and ecological members of the community and direct practical efforts to solve various problems in the community.