Complex system approach for sustainability and resilience: Identification, critical analytic, and future direction

This study reviews scientific literature on the Complex System Approach in sustainability and resilience research published between 1989 and 2023. Using data from Scopus, Dimensions, and Google Scholar, combined with bibliometric mapping and qualitative thematic analysis, the review identifies three major challenges in the existing literature. These include conceptual ambiguity in defining resilience, difficulties in modeling nonlinear and cross scale interactions, and governance limitations that hinder adaptive and participatory decision making. The findings are synthesized into a typology that groups studies into ecological transition systems, governance and social system dynamics, and innovation driven adaptive systems. Building on this synthesis, the study develops an integrated framework that links the principles of the Complex System Approach with resilience capacities and sustainability outcomes. The framework explains how feedbacks, nonlinearity, emergence, cross scale interactions, and interconnectedness generate robustness, adaptability, and transformability, which then shape environmental, social, economic, and institutional sustainability. The review concludes by highlighting the need for research that examines power relations, institutional barriers, and social equity within complex adaptive systems, along with methodological advances capable of capturing system evolution over time. The study provides a conceptual and practical foundation for researchers and policymakers working to design adaptive and context sensitive strategies for long term sustainability and resilience.