An Integrated Critical Review of Contemporary Sustainability Assessment Frameworks

Sustainability assessment has become an essential tool for addressing the increasing complexity of socio-environmental systems under the pressures of climate change, resource scarcity, ecological degradation, and rapid technological change. Although methodologies such as Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment (LCSA), and Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) have significantly advanced the field, current assessment practices remain fragmented and methodologically inconsistent. Key challenges include limited integration of environmental, economic, and social dimensions, uncertainties in indicator selection and weighting, insufficient consideration of resilience and system dynamics, and weak stakeholder participation throughout the assessment process. This study presents a comprehensive critical review of contemporary sustainability assessment methodologies, synthesizing developments in life-cycle-based approaches, multi-criteria decision-support systems, resilience-oriented evaluations, circularity assessment metrics, and participatory modeling frameworks. Drawing on recent applications in energy systems, industrial processes, agriculture, environmental remediation, and technological sectors, the review identifies major methodological advances, recurring limitations, and emerging interdisciplinary trends. The analysis demonstrates that no single framework can fully capture the multidimensional, dynamic, and uncertain nature of sustainability challenges. To address these limitations, the study proposes an integrated conceptual framework that combines life-cycle thinking, MCDA, uncertainty and sensitivity analysis, resilience assessment, circularity indicators, and stakeholder-driven feedback mechanisms within a unified decision-support architecture. The proposed framework aims to improve methodological coherence, transparency, adaptability, and decision-making effectiveness, thereby advancing sustainability assessment toward a more holistic and integrated paradigm for sustainable development.

کلیدواژه ها:

Sustainability Assessment ، Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment (LCSA) ، Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) ، Integrated Assessment