Integrating physical and digital indicators in public space branding: a planning framework for hybrid urban governance

Abstract This paper examines the potential of social media as a supplementary planning resource for understanding public space branding by relating digitally mediated visibility and perception to established physical public space attributes. Despite extensive literature on digital placemaking and hybrid public space, physical public space assessment and digital engagement analysis remain methodologically disconnected. Social media is often treated descriptively rather than as an operational planning input, and planners lack replicable tools to diagnose alignment between spatial quality and mediated perception. This study addresses that gap by framing public space branding as a governance process, concerned with recognition, legitimacy, symbolic continuity and shared meaning, rather than as a promotional activity. An exploratory mixed-methods design combines a desk-based physical public space assessment, social media analysis, and a supplementary public perception survey. Fifteen internationally recognized public spaces were evaluated across their physical and digital dimensions. The social media dataset comprised 750 publicly visible Facebook and Instagram posts collected via Meta Content Library API, published between 1 January 2025 and 31 July 2026 and retrieved through a synchronized data-collection session in August 2026. A separate online survey completed by 200 respondents provided complementary evidence for triangulating recognition, prior social media exposure, perceived spatial qualities, and visitation interest. The physical and digital composite scores showed only a weak, statistically non-significant association (Spearman’s ρ = 0.32, p = 0.239), indicating that digital performance should not be treated as a direct proxy for physical public space quality. A physical-digital alignment matrix classifies the cases into four diagnostic conditions: aligned success, physical under-recognition, low-profile performance, and digitally amplified experience gaps. The study contributes to digital placemaking and urban planning research by treating social media as an exploratory analytical input rather than a marketing-oriented measure of success. It proposes a five-phase diagnostic framework linking physical assessment, digital diagnosis, strategic intervention, and monitoring. The framework is comparative and exploratory; it uses physical-digital alignment to help urban planners and designers identify context appropriate responses while recognizing that platform metrics are partial, sample-dependent, and complementary to field-based and participatory evidence.