Do Culturally Embedded Wayfinding Systems Enhance Cultural Sustainability? Evidence from a Scenario-Based Experiment in a High-Speed Railway Station

Urban transportation hubs increasingly face spatial homogenization, eroding regional identity and cultural distinctiveness. This study supports perceptions of a cultural sustainability framework that integrates regional semiotics with visual hierarchy theory, transforming high-speed railway stations from generic transit environments into culturally sustainable mobility spaces. Using Qiantang Station as a case study, four regional cultural narratives were extracted and translated into a hierarchical culturally embedded wayfinding system. Following the questionnaire survey, participants with varying travel frequencies and age distributions were purposively selected to participate in the scenario-based perception experiment in order to ensure sample diversity and heterogeneity in mobility experience. A total of 40 participants (N = 40) compared conventional and culturally embedded wayfinding systems. Results indicated that culturally embedded environments significantly enhanced Cultural Sustainability Perception (CSP: M = 4.13 vs. 3.78, p = 0.002, Cohen’s d = 0.74) and reduced spatial recognition time, while Place Identity and Place Dependence showed no significant differences. These findings suggest that culturally embedded wayfinding systems can enhance passengers’ perceptions of cultural sustainability and cultural visibility within transportation environments. However, the study does not directly evaluate perceived support for cultural-information retention outcomes.