Sustainable land-use planning requires spatially explicit indicators capable of integrating environmental, social, and economic dimensions of territorial systems.
Geo-indicators have been widely applied to assess land-use dynamics, environmental pressures, urban expansion, and spatial inequalities. However, the methodological and conceptual integration remains fragmented across the literature. The study objectives were to strengthen the conceptual and methodological basis for integrating geo-indicators into evidence-based land-use planning frameworks. A systematic review and bibliometric analysis were conducted following preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses guidelines. Scientific records were retrieved from Scopus and Web of Science for the period ۱۹۹۸–۲۰۲۵. From an initial set of ۴۹۷ records, ۴۱ case-based studies were selected after duplicate removal, screening, and eligibility assessment. Bibliometric analysis was performed using RStudio (an integrated development environment for R programming), bibliometrix (an R package for bibliometric analysis), and visualization of similarities viewer software) to evaluate scientific production trends, thematic structures, keyword co-occurrence, and international collaboration networks. The results indicate a significant increase in scientific production after ۲۰۱۸, reaching a peak in ۲۰۲۵, reflecting the growing relevance of geo-indicators in sustainability science. Three main thematic clusters were identified: environmental impacts and sustainability transitions, geographic information system-based spatial modelling combined with multicriteria decision analysis, and urban and territorial planning applications. Geographic information systems integrated with analytical hierarchy process, fuzzy logic, spatial modelling, and scenario simulation were identified as the most frequently applied methodological approaches. Environmental geo-indicators were found to dominate the literature, while social and economic dimensions remain underdeveloped and inconsistently integrated across studies. This imbalance highlights a persistent gap in the operationalization of multidimensional sustainability frameworks for territorial analysis. The main limitation identified is the absence of a standardized geo-indicator framework capable of integrating environmental, social, and economic dimensions across spatial and temporal scales. It is concluded that geo-indicators represent robust tools for land-use sustainability assessment; however, their effectiveness depends on standardized methodologies, interoperable geospatial systems, and improved integration of socioeconomic variables.
