Interpretaciones visuales de la sostenibilidad: enfoques comparados y presentación de un modelo integral para la toma de decisiones

There is no single approach to Sustainability. The several different conceptual proposals can be graphically represented in a way that each resultant model depicts the importance that the author(s) give to the different dimensions defining sustainability.
Visual interpretation is a better way to help understand and enhance the concept of development. Its application to Sustainability contributes with a value added, since it synthesizes concepts, consolidates approaches and grants it with functionality.
The visual interpretation proposals of Sustainability are based, among other spatial figures, on the Venn’s diagrams on concentric and non-concentric circles, on some geometrical proposals such as the sustainability triangle, and vector representations. Models and the own theoretical conception of Sustainability which is configured as a multidimensional and multifunctional concept are simultaneously evolving. In the beginning, representations included the three basic Sustainability dimensions: social, environmental and economic. Little by little, a fourth dimension has being included, which may vary from one author to another and that, in such case, it is identified with the political-institutional dimension, although other dimensions such as the cultural and global ones are also being accepted.
In this paper, several visual interpretation proposals for Sustainability -already existent- are being compared. Yet, a new vector-type proposal which includes a fourth dimension is presented. The authors present this model with the primary objective of: helping to visualize sustainability interactions and processes in decision-making processes related to the new paradigm of sustainable development.