Place names for sale: A place of Ukraine in the universe of toponymy commodification

Abstract

Place names for sale: A place of Ukraine in the universe of toponymy commodificationThe issue of commercial use of geographical names, constituting a promising and booming area of the second wave of critical toponomastics studies, remains poorly investigated in Ukraine.Simultaneously, Ukraine, passing a long and controversial post-Soviet transformation, represents a real honey pot for scrutinizing the commercial use of place names and its consequences for cultural landscapes and territorial communities.The aim of this article is to show Ukraine, as a country representing economically, socially, politically and culturally-specific part of the post-Soviet realm, in the global arena of toponymy commodification, creating the basis for further research in the field.The research methods include analysis of existing scientific literature, media screening, analysis of the names of residential complexes in Kyiv and its suburban area, field observations and the study of the legal framework.The most common form of toponymic commodification in Ukraine is the use of local geographical names and the names of historical regions for marketing purposes, in particular branding of goods and services.Gentrification-led type of toponymic commodification has already changed the symbolical space of the largest Ukrainian cities, while the possibilities for and practices of the infrastructural toponymic commodification are still quite limited although several existing cases may represent an early sign of upcoming global trend.In the field of tourism, an emerging practice is the use of formal and folk toponyms in order to create thematic cultural landscapes.

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