Sustainable urban branding through ecosystem services: Transforming riverbank landscapes

Sustainable urban development requires innovative approaches that integrate environmental services with socio-economic goals. Place branding at various spatial scales provides added value for its stakeholders. At the city scale, it has become essential for policymakers to maintain a city's competitive edge and enhance the quality of life for its residents. Urban riverbanks, which significantly shape urban identity and structure at the intersection of ecological processes and urban development, serve as multifunctional landscapes supporting biodiversity, ecosystem functioning, and sustainable land use. Focusing on the Karun River in Ahvaz, Iran, a mixed-methods approach was used to assess six riverbank zones through expert and resident surveys, linking various river ecosystem service categories, particularly cultural, provisioning, and regulating services with place branding tools. Spatial and statistical analysis (SPSS and GIS) revealed that cultural ecosystem services, including recreation, heritage, and aesthetic value, are key indicators influencing branding effectiveness. Branding tools such as event hallmarking and architectural identity are strongly aligned with cultural service distribution. The study proposes an integrated framework for indicator-based spatial planning that merges ecological functionality with symbolic and social values. It offers practical insight for monitoring and managing river corridors as socio-ecological systems, especially in rapidly urbanizing contexts where resilience and identity must be co-developed. • Cultural ecosystem services are key drivers of riverbank landscape branding success. • Event hallmarking is the most context-effective tool for branding riverbank landscapes. • Place branding tools perform best in multifunctional zones with high public engagement. • A conceptual model integrates ecosystem services into place branding strategies.