“Namescape” as Cultural Heritage: Exploring the Role and Implications of Place Names in the Context of the UN Sustainable Development Goals

This study conceptualizes place names as cultural heritage, emphasizing the concept of landscape. Since UNESCO recognized landscapes as a heritage category in 1992, the primary reason landscapes are considered cultural heritage is their embodiment of collective human identity and cultural practices expressed through interactions with nature. Based on this understanding, the study seeks to identify the intersection between landscapes and place names and to articulate the cultural heritage value of place names through the concept of “namescape,” as discussed in geography. Place names symbolically and visibly reveal a sense of place and collective value. This study examines how place names possess the characteristics of cultural heritage and their implications for global agendas such as the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).