When sustainable development risks losing its meaning. Delimiting the concept with a comprehensive literature review and a conceptual model

The concept of sustainable development still needs more scientific discussion to be useful for decision-making processes. The polysemy of the term sustainability has undermined the credibility of the concept, leading, among other effects, to the inability to translate discourse into practical actions and to distortive appropriations of the term. The purpose of this article is to propose a basis for discussion to demarcate the concept. In this context, a literature review was conducted on the theme, encompassing an exploratory approach and a systematic hermeneutics analysis of the literature. Based on a structured discussion of the evidence collected in papers and books, we developed a conceptual model named Sustainable Development with an Axiological Perspective, encompassing three dimensions: satisfaction of human needs (including social and economic aspects), natural resources (making explicit Earthʹs limitations) and decision-making perspective (from an axiological point of view). The model proposes that sustainable development can be seen as development aimed at improving the well-being of society as a whole (including future generations), enabled by an axiological perspective in decision-making processes, considering the limitations of environmental resources. The model explicitly includes a value-based mindset in the concept of sustainable development, as pointed out by the axiological perspective. This perspective is intrinsic to the main definitions of sustainability, but is not explicit in the models and in the literature on sustainable development.