Designation is the act of setting aside something, or devoting it to a particular purpose. In the legal planning context, it is also "the action of choosing a place for a special purpose or giving it a special status".

The process of designation confers a legal status on a property by a specific law and provides a degree of legal protection (which varies by country). The term 'designation' is used when referring to the formal protection by legal statute for a wide range of heritage assets, including listed buildings and World Heritage Sites as well as many others.

The UK Government publication Planning Policy Statement 5: (Planning for the Historic Environment) states that a designated heritage asset can be: a World Heritage Site, scheduled monument, listed building, protected wreck site, registered park and garden, registered battlefield or conservation area.

Each type of heritage asset is designated as such using different legislation.

In the UK, the process of giving some measure of legal protection to special buildings and other historic artefacts, is grouped under the general term 'designation of heritage assets'.

This is also sometimes referred to as 'heritage designation' or as the 'heritage protection process' and uses a range of different pieces of heritage protection legislation which have been formed piecemeal over the centuries.

The purpose of designating heritage assets is to ensure that the significance and character of the asset in question is protected through the planning system, to ensure they are passed on to future generations.

The UK Government white paper Heritage Protection for the 21st Century describes designation as being "the first step in an effective heritage protection system. It is a means of identifying those aspects of our past that are most important to us, and explaining why they are important. Effective designation is also the basis for decisions about the way we manage change to the historic environment."