This study was designed with a dual aim: to systematically synthesize existing evidence on the relationships between cultural ecosystem services, rituals, and social landscape sustainability, and to explain the mediating role of cultural ecosystem services in the relationship between rituals and social landscape sustainability in the urban fabric of Iranian cities. In the qualitative phase, a qualitative–integrative systematic review was conducted using a constructivist grounded theory approach. A systematic search in eight national and international databases up to October 2023 led to the selection of 47 articles out of 2,158 initial studies. The data were analyzed using meta-synthesis and the three-stage coding procedure of grounded theory.

In the quantitative phase, the research followed a mixed-method (applied–developmental) design and was completed using a researcher-developed questionnaire administered to 300 citizens participating in Muharram and Nowruz rituals in urban green spaces in Isfahan and Tehran. The quantitative data were analyzed with SPSS and Smart‑PLS software, using confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling.

The qualitative synthesis resulted in the development of the “Resilient Cultural–Social Landscape Integration Theory,” whose core is a “triadic integration”: cultural ecosystem services as an enabling context, rituals as an integrative action, and social landscape sustainability as a resilient outcome. Five central categories emerged: ecosystem sacralization, community-building interaction, collective place memory, disruptive pressures, and landscape resilience strategies.

The quantitative findings showed that urban regulating (path coefficient = 0.48) and cultural (path coefficient = 0.54) ecosystem services have significant effects on the quality of ritual performance, which in turn directly influences place attachment (0.62) and perceived social cohesion (0.57). Together, these two variables explained 65% of the variance in the social landscape sustainability construct, indicating that urban social landscape sustainability is the product of a dynamic and interactive integration between ecological and socio-cultural systems. Rituals are not merely consumers but completers of the ecosystem–society cycle through reinforcing the meaning of ecosystem services. This study underscores the necessity of shifting from one-dimensional planning toward “resilient cultural–social ecosystem design” and adopting a “ritual-based landscape design” approach as a key strategy in sustainable urban planning.