Unraveling the complexity of “city brand equity”: a three‐dimensional framework

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to offer a framework for the analysis and evaluation of city brands equity that is firmly anchored to the interdisciplinary characteristics of the city branding research domain. Design/methodology/approach – The study builds upon a database of 217 articles dealing with the phenomena of city branding retrieved from Lucarelli and Berg. Findings – City brands are understood by different scholars as being characterized by both intangible and tangible elements, properly researched adopting a mixture of different methods and endowing certain type of outcomes that concern both the more directly related image and identity of the city as well, to a larger extent, the socio‐political and economical aspects. Research limitations/implications – The study is based only on published English articles in the last 20 years. Originality/value – The present paper suggests a framework that is based on the individualization of diverse city brand elements and the relations those have with the reported impact and the methodologies applied to reach this purpose. The framework can be used for both analyzing city brand equity research and practices. The paper contributes to the emerging field of city branding by offering a city brand equity framework that goes beyond the previous attempt in its interdisciplinary breath.