Rethinking Sustainable Development: Towards a Non-Linear Approach to Change
050. Sharing part of my research & philosophy of change
Contemporary debates on sustainable development are increasingly animated by the recognition that prevailing frameworks of social change may no longer be adequate for addressing the complexity of global challenges. Traditional models often conceptualise development as a linear progression, characterised by measurable milestones, inputs, and outputs. Yet such models risk obscuring the dynamic, interdependent, and non-linear processes through which change unfolds in reality. Recent scholarship and practice emphasise the need for a more nuanced understanding of change—one that aligns more closely with complexity, relationality, and resilience.
This article draws upon themes presented at the Research for Development Impact Exchange in Sydney and subsequently discussed in the Changemaker Q&A podcast. It outlines a shift from mechanistic and reductionist paradigms of change towards a systems-oriented and non-linear approach. In doing so, it introduces a framework grounded in the ontological notion of dynamic unfolding, highlighting its implications for sustainable development and the role of resilience as an organising principle for social transformation.
From Enlightenment Thought to Holistic Perspectives
The dominant Western conception of change has been profoundly shaped by Enlightenment thinkers such as René Descartes, who advanced modes of reasoning grounded in binary logics, mechanisation, and reductionism. This epistemological shift privileged the analysis of component parts over the study of wholes and interconnections. While this reductionist orientation has underpinned modern science and generated invaluable insights, it has also constrained the capacity to grapple with phenomena characterised by interdependence and complexity.
By contrast, Indigenous knowledge systems—particularly those of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in Australia, as well as other wisdom traditions globally—have historically adopted holistic perspectives. These approaches emphasise relationality, interconnectedness, and cyclical processes of change, offering a counterpoint to Western reductionism. Re-engaging with such traditions provides opportunities to broaden epistemological frameworks for understanding sustainable development.
Non-Linear Change as Dynamic Unfolding
Conventional discourses frequently depict change as a linear process—progressing along a timeline with identifiable stages, or as differences between discrete states ("before" and "after"). Yet this framing risks conflating changes (observable differences) with change itself (the continuous process through which such differences arise).
An alternative conceptualisation is to view change as a dynamic unfolding. Drawing on the philosophy of Roy Bhaskar and resonating with the work of Indigenous scholars such as Tyson Yunkaporta, the notion of unfolding captures the ongoing, relational, and emergent character of change. Change is not reducible to a sequence of fixed stages but is instead an evolving interplay of three interrelated modalities:
Continuity – features of reality that persist across time.
Discontinuity – features that cease to exist or lose relevance.
Emergence – new features or realities that come into being.
All processes of change can be understood as combinations of these three modalities. For instance, in the simple act of dyeing hair, the hair itself represents continuity, the original colour represents discontinuity, and the new colour represents emergence. More complex social processes—such as institutional reform or community transformation—can likewise be analysed through this triadic lens.
Implications for Changemakers
For practitioners engaged in social impact work, adopting a non-linear framework offers practical advantages. It invites a shift from vague invocations of "change" towards explicit engagement with continuities, discontinuities, and emergences. Practitioners can ask:
What do we wish to preserve? (continuities)
What do we seek to remove or transform? (discontinuities)
What do we want to bring into existence? (emergences)
Such questions not only sharpen strategic clarity but also ensure that interventions resonate with the underlying nature of change itself, rather than imposing artificial linear models.
Rethinking Sustainable Development through Resilience
Development, as a disciplinary field, has long been critiqued for its colonial and extractive origins, often reflecting linear assumptions about progress. However, when reconceptualised through the lens of resilience, development may be reoriented towards more relational and adaptive logics.
Resilience is often mischaracterised as an innate trait or as the capacity to "bounce back" from adversity. A more expansive understanding views resilience as a relational and emergent capacity to engage with continuity, discontinuity, and emergence. In this sense, resilience encompasses three interlinked strategies:
Stabilising – enabling desired continuities amidst external shocks.
Adapting – removing barriers to desired change, facilitating necessary discontinuities.
Transforming – initiating or undergoing shifts that generate new emergent realities.
Resilience is not a fixed quality but a dynamic capacity developed through engagement with change. It emerges from the interaction of individuals, communities, institutions, and environments, making it co-constituted and relational.
Applications in Practice
Empirical illustrations underscore the relevance of this framework. For example, research with women in rural India during the COVID-19 pandemic revealed differentiated aspirations: some prioritised stability (ensuring household security), others emphasised adaptation (achieving social mobility by dismantling barriers of poverty), and still others pursued transformation (challenging entrenched practices such as child marriage).
Similarly, in ecological contexts, strategies of stability (conservation), adaptation (management of invasive species), and transformation (ecosystem regeneration) demonstrate the interplay of resilience capacities. Social policy and development interventions can be designed to integrate all three dimensions, enabling multi-layered responses to complex challenges.
Moving beyond linear paradigms of development requires embracing the ontology of change as a dynamic unfolding. By situating resilience as the core logic of sustainable development, practitioners and policymakers can better align strategies with the relational and emergent nature of social and ecological systems.
This approach reframes development not as the attainment of fixed end-states but as the cultivation of capacities to stabilise, adapt, and transform in response to unfolding realities. In doing so, it honours both the insights of critical realist philosophy and Indigenous traditions of holistic knowing, offering a more grounded and generative path for sustainable futures.