Sustainability and sustainable development: A review of principles and definitions

The concepts of sustainability and sustainable development have acquired great relevance in scientific research about environmental issues, policies linked to environmental management, and industrial and agricultural production, among others. Although these two concepts are frequently used as synonyms, they are immersed in debates regarding their meaning and their possibilities for application to real systems. This review analyzes the main theoretical definitions of both concepts, together with their potentials and limitations, emphasizing the differences between their meanings. A bibliographic search was carried out in the Web of Science database and other sources from official organizations of international relevance and authors referenced by them. The works providing substantive definitions of sustainability and sustainable development from a complexity theory perspective were selected for discussion throughout the article. The main results showed a strong criticism of the concept of sustainable development due to its imprecise definition, the emergence of the concept of sustainability in the debate of the 1990s and its consolidation in certain fields of knowledge, and the emergence of new alternatives to sustainable development such as degrowth and buen vivir. The results also show the potential of the concept of sustainability as a still-developing framework for scientific research and environmental management. (c) 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

This review analyzes the main theoretical definitions of sustainability and sustainable development, their potentials and limitations, emphasizing the differences between their meanings. The article selected works that provide substantive definitions from a complexity theory perspective and discusses the criticisms of the concept of sustainable development, the emergence of the concept of sustainability in the 1990s, and new alternatives such as degrowth and buen vivir. The results also highlight the potential of sustainability as a developing framework for scientific research and environmental management.