City branding in the context of architecture, tourism, culture, and cultural identity interaction—bibliometric analysis of literature

In today’s global world, cities are seen as dynamic entities that strive to achieve economic success and create and maintain prestige. In this context, the concept of city branding has emerged as a multifaceted, comprehensive framework that considers various factors that influence the perceptions and impressions of a city on both residents and visitors. This research aims to identify trends and research gaps in academic studies surrounding the combination of tourism, culture, architecture, and cultural identity in city branding. A systematic literature review was conducted to map the intellectual landscape of city branding, identify emerging trends, and highlight influential works and authors. Following the bibliometric analysis of 348 articles retrieved from the Web of Science database, first with the keyword ‘city branding’ and then with the keywords’ architecture, tourism, culture, and cultural identity added to it, the results were visualized using VOSviewer and Sankeymatic. The results provide important clues to determine the direction of studies in this field and to fill academic gaps in city branding. The findings show that the existing body of knowledge on city branding is established; however, there is not yet a significant number of studies on the interactions between architecture, tourism, culture, and cultural identity. This research aims to examine the reflections of city branding—primarily through the lens of architecture, due to the authors being architects, and subsequently within the frameworks of culture, tourism, and cultural identity. In this context, future research should explore new perspectives on city branding, conduct in-depth analyses in essential dimensions such as tourism, culture, architecture, and cultural identity, and try to overcome the shortcomings of existing studies. In addition, developing new theoretical frameworks to address the knowledge gaps in city branding and encouraging interdisciplinary studies will advance the understanding in this field and contribute to a comprehensive experience. These efforts will accelerate academic developments in city branding development and contribute to the sustainable development and global competitive advantage of cities sustainable development and global competitive advantage.