An Opinion on Multi-Criteria Decision-Making Analysis for Sustainability-Based Spatial Planning Practices. Time to Improve?

The first definition of the sustainable development appeared in 1987 by Brundtland Report. Since then, more than 80,000 scientific documents with the relevant keywords, included in their titles, have been published in Web of Science (WoS) database. It is worth stating that the focus of the scientific efforts in this area has been mainly on the pillars already included in the Brundtland Report for sustainable development, i.e. Environmental, Economic, and Social. However, I believe that besides the mentioned pillars, there is a need to add (at least) another pillar as "Technical" to make sure that sustainable development will ensure the industrial sectors that sustainable development will also take the attributes related to the quality of the products and services into consideration. This will assist in tackling the current global-scale environmental issues more efficiently and practically. When combined with the multi-criteria decision-making processes such an approach may result in the involvement of the scientific community in an integrated approach "...to meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs".