Embracing complexity in sustainable project management

Concerns over the causes of climate change are at historical high and all types of organizations are undergoing a deep scrutiny over their wider economic, environmental and social impacts - project organising arrangements are no different in this regard. Embedding sustainable objectives in project organizing means to explore its undefined long-term effect, to include a much larger audience of stakeholders and manage conflicting interests that emerge. Therefore, sustainability increases number of elements and relationships to be considered and managed throughout all project lifecycle. This chapter suggests that to fully hold of sustainability considerations the projects should embrace the arising complexity rather than dismissing or simplifying it (as traditional methods tend to do). This chapter offers an overview of how embracing complexity produce several challenges and opportunities. Moreover, it also proposes a future research direction the study of project paradoxes and trade-offs caused by the contradicting nature of sustainability objectives.