The Regional Science Association was organized in December 1954 at the annual meeting of the Allied Social Science Associations in Detroit, Michigan. The founder of the association was Walter Isard, who served as chairman in the formative years. In 1957 elections were held for the first time. The following is a list of persons who held the office of President, the term and the scholarly field of the president, generally defined as the field of their highest degree.

Presidents, Terms & Fields

Hiroyuki Shibusawsa  2025-2026, Urban and Regional Economic System (VP2024)

Hans Westlund Sweden, 2023-2024, Urban and Regional Studies (VP 2022)

Eduardo Haddad Brazil, 2021-22, Economics (VP 2020)

Mark Partridge USA, 2019-20, Economics  (VP 2018)

Budy Resosudarmo Indonesia/Australia, 2017-18, Economics (Jacques Poot, VP 2016)

Andrés Rodríguez-Pose Spain/UK, 2015-16, Geography (VP 2014)

Jean-Claude Thill Belgium/USA, 2013-14, Public Policy  (VP, 2012)

Yoshiro Higano Japan, 2011-12, Environmental Science  (VP 2010)

Roberta Capello Italy, 2009-10,Regional Economics  (VP 2008)

Roger R. Stough USA, 2007-08, Geography and  Environmental Engineering  (VP 2006)

Robert J. Stimson Australia, 2005-06, Geography  (VP 2004)

Antoine Bailly France/Switzerland, 2003-04, Geography  (VP 2002)

Geoffrey J.D. Hewings UK/ USA, 2001-02, Geography  (VP 2000)

Hirotada Kohno Japan, 1999-00, Economics (VP 1998)

Peter Batey UK, 1997-98, Regional Planning (VP 1996)

Kingsley E. Haynes USA, 1995-96, Geography (VP 1994)

Lay Gibson USA, 1993-94, Geography (VP 1992)

Peter Nijkamp Netherlands, 1991-92, Economics (VP 1990)

In 1989, the Regional Science Association was reorganized as the Regional Science Association International. Beginning in 1991, Presidents serve two-year terms.

The main objectives of the Association are the fostering of exchange of ideas and the promotion of studies focusing on the region, including the utilization of tools, methods and theoretical frameworks, specifically designed for regional analysis as well as concept, procedures and analytical techniques of the various social and other sciences. These objectives are supported through the acquaintance and discussion among its members and with scholars in related fields, by the encouragement of publication of scholarly studies and by performing services to aid the advancement of its members and the field of regional science. Minutes of the RSAI meetings are in pdf format for your convenience.

RSAI Minutes

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An interdisciplinary, international organization focusing on understanding the growth and development of urban, regional, and international systems.

Ex-officio

Immediate Past President

Hans Westlund

Treasurer

Serena Serrano

Financial Officer

Elisabete Martins

Archivist

David E. Boyce

Peter Batey

Editors 'Papers in Regional Science':

Editor in Chief: Rosella Nicolini 

Editors 'Regional Science Policy & Practice':

Editor in Chief: Andrea Caragliu 

U.S. Census Bureau

U.S. Census Bureau

The U.S. Census Bureau mission is to be the preeminent collector and provider of timely, relevant, and quality data about the people and economy of the United States.

The Regional Science Association was founded in 1954 to provide intellectual leadership in the study of social, economic, political and behavioural phenomena with a spatial dimension. Consequently, the Association brings together scholars from a large number of fields, including economics, geography, urban and regional planning, civil engineering, sociology, finance and political science. Members are found in academic institutions, in government, in consulting organizations and a variety of private firms. In 1990, the Association changed its organizational structure to better reflect the growth and development of the field; the Regional Science Association International now serves as an umbrella organization overseeing three major superregional organizations in North America, Europe and the Pacific.

The main objectives of the Association are the fostering of exchange of ideas and the promotion of studies focusing on the region, including the utilization of tools, methods and theoretical frameworks, specifically designed for regional analysis as well as concept, procedures and analytical techniques of the various social and other sciences. These objectives are supported through the acquaintance and discussion among its members and with scholars in related fields, by the encouragement of publication of scholarly studies and by performing services to aid the advancement of its members and the field of regional science. For more information contact the This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Traditionally, the RSAI honoured its leading members through their election to the office of President. This practice changed in 1990, when the President became principally a leadership position in the Association. In 1978, the Association honoured its founder, Professor Walter Isard, by establishing the Founder's Medal. Today, this award remains the only honour conveyed by the Association as a whole, although its three supraregional organizations have established annual awards.

The Founder's Medal was established to recognize lifetime contributions to the field of Regional Science and to the Association. The criteria established for the award are as follows:

• The recipient should be a senior scholar who has contributed in an important way to the field of Regional Science in a scholarly sense;
• The recipient should have been active in the RSAI for a sustained period, but not necessarily active at the time of the award; also, the award is not given posthumously;
• The recipient should be a person with whom many members can identify; his/her contributions could be a major work in one area or many works in several areas;
• The contribution need not be limited to one type of contribution; it might be theory, method or policy, for example;
• It is recognized that the native country and language of scholars affect the extent to which they are known by the membership, and an effort should be made to take this into account.

The recipients of the Founder's Medal:

1. Walter Isard, Professor of Economics, Regional Science and Peace Science, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA; in 1979, Professor Isard became Professor of Economics (Regional Science and Peace Science), Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA; awarded in 1978 at the North American Meetings, Chicago.

2. Martin J. Beckmann, Professor of Economics, Brown University, Providence, RI, USA, and Professor of Applied Mathematics (Operations Research), Technical University, Munich, Germany; awarded in 1983 at the North American Meetings, Chicago.

3. William Alonso, Saltonstall Professor of Population Policy, Center for Population Studies, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA; awarded in 1991 at the North American Meetings, New Orleans (deceased, 1999).

4. Jean H. P. Paelinck, Professor Emeritus of Economics, Rotterdam School of Economics, Erasmus University, Rotterdam, the Netherlands; awarded in 1996 at the World Congress, Tokyo.

5. David E. Boyce, Professor of Transportation and Regional Science, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA; awarded in 2000 at the World Congress, Lugano.

6. Peter Nijkamp, Chair and Professor of Regional and Urban Economics and Economic Geography, Free University, Amsterdam, and President of the governing board of the Netherlands Research Council; awarded in 2004 at the World Congress, Port Elizabeth.

7. Antoine Bailly, Born in 1944, Antoine Bailly is professor emeritus of economic geography at the University of Geneva, Switzerland. He is the president of the IGU Applied Geography Commission, of the Scientific Committee of the INRA PSDR (France) and of the Forum Sante Gesundheit (Switzerland). He was presented with the Founder's medal at ERSA conference Liverpool, August 2008. 

8. Arthur Getis is a Distinguished Professor of Geography, Emeritus, at San Diego State University. He holds BS and MS degrees in Geography from The Pennsylvania State University and a Ph.D. in Geography from the University of Washington, and his areas of research include spatial statistics, pattern analysis, urban geography, disease and crime clustering, and geographic information sciences. He was presented with the Founder's medal at the 9th World Congress in Timisoara, Romania, May 2012.

9. Manfred M. Fischer is Chair Professor of Economic Geography at the Vienna University of Economics and Business. He was co-founder of the prominent interdisciplinary journal Geographical Systems (Gordon & Breach) and is now editor-in-chief of its successor, the Journal of Geographical Systems (Springer), and is a member of the editorial boards of several other peer-reviewed journals. He also co-founded the Springer book series, Advances in Spatial Science, and served for eight years as Chair of the IGU Commission on Mathematical Models. He was presented with the Founder's medal at the 56th ERSA Congress in Vienna, Austria, August 2016.

10. Geoffrey Hewings was the founding Director of REAL and served in this position until August 2016. He obtained a B.A. from the University of Birmingham (UK) and an M.A. and a Ph.D. from the University of Washington (Seattle). Prior to coming to Illinois in 1974, he was on the faculty of the University of Kent at Canterbury (UK) and the University of Toronto (Canada). He is also a recipient of the Fulbright and the Woodrow Wilson awards and, in 2003, he has also been nominated Fellow of the Regional Science Association International. He is also Fellow of the International Input-Output Association (since 2010) and the Western Regional Science Association (also since 2010). Geoffrey has also served as President of the North American Regional Science Council, the Regional Science Association. He was presented with the Founder's medal in 2020.

11. Jacques Thisse a Fellow of the Econometric Society, of the Regional Science Association International and of the Centre for Economic Policy Research, is professor Emeritus of economics and regional science at the Université catholique de Louvain (Belgium) and a member of CORE. He has published over 150 articles in different international journals (Econometrica, American Economic Review, Journal of Economic Theory, Operations Research, etc) and in different disciplines such as industrial economics, spatial economics, international economics and management science. He is the co-author of Discrete Choice Theory of Product differentiation and of Economics of Agglomeration. He is particularly interested in product differentiation, heterogeneous consumers and firms in various types of market structure and spatial settings, as well as in the spatial organization of economic activities. He has been a Visiting Invited Professor in many departments, most recently at Columbia economics department and has received many prestigious awards, amongst which the Solvay price of the Belgian Science foundation in 2006.

Regional Science Policy & Practice (RSPP) is an open access journal published by Elsevier on behalf of the RSAI. Although RSPP charges Article Processing Charges (APCs), Elsevier has signed agreements with many countries and universities that allow papers to be fully or partially free of APCs (Please check here your situation). Nevertheless, the Editorial Team of RSPP can allocate waivers or provide some support to authors to secure the publication of accepted papers that fit into Special Issues and do not have enough funding. This situation must be addressed when submitting the paper. To access Regional Science Policy & Practice visit https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/regional-science-policy-and-practice Our journals are now both publushed Gold Open Access with Elsevier; APCs are USD 2740 for PiRS and USD 1596 for RSPP. However: Selected Countries, beneficiaries of the Research4Life program, are eligible for a 100% or a 50% discount on APCs; Authors from entities with an institutional agreement with Elsevier do not pay APCs; PiRS' editorial team has 20 waivers, and RSPP's has 50 waivers, to allocate each year for accepted articles based on the decision of the EiCs, and the merits of each paper; If none of the former applies, RSAI members are in any case eligible for a 20% discount on APCs. Journal Impact Factor™ of 1.7 Scopus 2023 CiteScore: 3.6 Scopus Citescore Category Rankings 2023: - Geography, Planning and Development - 258/821 - Development - 90/360 - Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law - 185/399 SCImago Journal Rank 2023:  0.585 SNIP 2023: 0.892

RSPP Working Papers Special Series on Covid-19 RSPP Working Paper nº 2020.001 Differentiated territorial effect of Covid-19 on the tourism sector in Morocco By Ilyes Boumahdi, Nouzha Zaoujal and Abdellali Fadlallah   RSPP Working Paper nº 2020.002 Socio-Demographic Disparities in COVID-19 Case Rates and Testing: An exploratory spatial analysis of ZIP code data in Chicago, IL By Kevin Credit

Aims and Scope

Regional Science Policy and Practice (RSPP) is the journal of the Regional Science Association International that publish high quality papers in regional science, assumed to be the discipline that looks at people’s and places interaction within space; with sound, replicable and advanced methods; suitable to generate robust evidences that are able to inform effective policies for regional sustainable development. It welcomes papers from a range of academic disciplines and practitioners including planning, public policy, geography, economics and environmental science and related fields. Papers should address the interface between academic debates and policy development and application. RSPP provides an opportunity for academics and policy makers to develop a dialogue to identify and explore many of the challenges facing local and regional economies.

RSPP publishes high quality papers targeted at informing the policy development process leading to the formation of theoretically grounded regional policy. The editors invite submissions dealing with the policy and practice of regional and local development. Contributions that are the outcome of collaborations between researchers and policy and practice professions are encouraged.

Keywords

regional, science, policy, practice, RSAI, journal, geography, applied, local development, planning, public policy, economics, environmental science

Abstracting and Indexing Information

• Academic OneFile (GALE Cengage)
• Emerging Sources Citation Index (Clarivate Analytics)
• Environment Abstracts (ProQuest)
• Environmental Sciences & Pollution Management (ProQuest)
• InfoTrac (GALE Cengage)
• Political Science Complete (EBSCO Publishing)
• SCOPUS (Elsevier)
• Sustainability Science Abstracts (ProQuest)
• Web of Science (Clarivate Analytics)

Please note: Members of the Regional Science Association International are eligible for a 20% discount on the article publishing charge.

Papers in Regional Science (PiRS) is published by Elsevier on behalf of the RSAI. To access Papers in Regional Science visit https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/papers-in-regional-science

Our journals are now both published Gold Open Access with Elsevier; APCs are USD 2740 for PiRS and USD 1596 for RSPP.

However:

• Selected Countries, beneficiaries of the Research4Life program, are eligible for a 100% or a 50% discount on APCs;
• Authors from entities with an institutional agreement with Elsevier do not pay APCs;
• PiRS' editorial team has 20 waivers, and RSPP's has 50 waivers, to allocate each year for accepted articles based on the decision of the EiCs, and the merits of each paper;
• If none of the former applies, RSAI members are in any case eligible for a 20% discount on APCs.

Aims and Scope

Papers in Regional Science is the official journal of the Regional Science Association International. It encourages high quality scholarship on a broad range of topics in the field of regional science. These topics include, but are not limited to, behavioural modelling of location, transportation, and migration decisions, land use and urban development, inter-industry analysis, environmental and ecological analysis, resource management, urban and regional policy analysis, geographical information systems, and spatial statistics.

The journal publishes papers that make a new contribution to the theory, methods and models related to urban and regional (or spatial) matters. The editors invite submissions of papers that emphasize the application of theoretical frameworks, methods and models, developed specifically for the study of urban and regional phenomena. They also welcome contributions to the understanding of regional phenomena that employ theoretical frameworks and methods developed in other fields.

Key words

papers, regional, science, RSAI, journal, geography, location, transportation, migration, urban, development, environment, policy, spatial, resource management

Abstracting and Indexing Information

• Academic Search (EBSCO Publishing)
• Academic Search Premier (EBSCO Publishing)
• AgeLine Database (EBSCO Publishing)
• Current Contents: Social & Behavioral Sciences (Thomson Reuters)
• EconLit (AEA)
• GEOBASE (Elsevier)
• IBSS: International Bibliography of the Social Sciences (ProQuest)
• Journal Citation Reports/Social Science Edition (Thomson Reuters)
• RePEc: Research Papers in Economics
• SCOPUS (Elsevier)
• Social Sciences Citation Index (Thomson Reuters)

 Please note: Members of the Regional Science Association International are eligible for a 20% discount on the article publishing charge.

THE BENJAMIN H. STEVENS 2020–2021

Graduate Fellowship in Regional Science

Graduate students enrolled in Ph.D. programs in North America are encouraged to apply for the Twentieth Benjamin H. Stevens Graduate Fellowship in Regional Science, administered by the North American Regional Science Council of the Regional Science Association International (NARSC-RSAI). This Fellowship, in support of dissertation research in Regional Science, is awarded annually in memory of Dr. Benjamin H. Stevens, an intellectual leader whose selfless devotion to graduate students as teacher, advisor, mentor, and friend had a profound impact on the field. Regional Science is a multidisciplinary field concerned with the theory and method of urban and regional phenomena. Regional Scientists apply theoretical and empirical frameworks and methods of the social and other sciences, as well as develop new ones specifically for regional analysis and policy.

Eligible students should have completed all degree requirements except for their dissertation by the time the Fellowship commences. A requirement of the Fellowship is that the recipient have no duties other than dissertation research during the Fellowship, although the recipient may hold other fellowships concurrently. Applications from students working in any area and any North American Ph.D. program are welcome as long as their dissertation research addresses a research question in Regional Science.

The Fellowship consists of a stipend in the amount of $30,000 (U.S.), paid over a twelve-month period. Applications for the 2020–2021 Fellowship should be sent electronically by the applicant to the Selection Committee Chair, Professor Elizabeth Mack, by the deadline of February 15, 2020.

An application consists of the following materials:

1. A curriculum vita of no more than two (2) pages in length.
2. A statement in ten (10) pages or less explaining the questions and issues to be addressed, the approach to be used, and the product expected from the dissertation research, preceded by a summary (1-page maximum) describing the intellectual merit of the proposed research, and the broader impacts that may result. The 10-page limit is inclusive of references, but exclusive of tables and figures. This text should be in 12-point or larger font, double-spaced, with one-inch margins; references may be single-spaced.
3. Copies of the candidate’s transcripts for all graduate study. Unofficial copies are acceptable.

In addition, the dissertation supervisor shall provide a confidential letter sent separately as an attachment from her/his email account with the student’s name in the subject line to Professor Mack. In the letter the supervisor should assess the quality and significance of the proposed dissertation research, specify the current state of progress toward the candidate’s degree, and provide a commitment by the dissertation supervisor to obtain a tuition waiver for the candidate for the year of the Fellowship. A condition of the Fellowship is the granting of a tuition waiver for the year of the Fellowship by the university, or equivalent payment of the student’s tuition.

Applications should be emailed to Professor Elizabeth Mack at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Questions may also be sent to her at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. For information about the North American Regional Science Council (NARSC), go to www.narsc.org.

May 13, 2015
Last revised, July 23, 2019

The Benjamin H. Stevens Graduate Fellowship in Regional Science was previously awarded to the following students:

• 2000 Michael J. Greenwald (University of California, Irvine; Marlon Boarnet, advisor)
• 2001 Rachel Franklin (University of Arizona; Brigitte Waldorf, advisor)
• 2002 JungWon Son (University of California-Los Angeles; Leobardo Estrada, advisor)
• 2003 Alison Davis Reum (North Carolina State University; V. Kerry Smith, advisor)
• 2004 Nicholas Nagle (Univ. of California-Santa Barbara; Stuart H. Sweeney, advisor)
• 2005 Xiaokun Wang (University of Texas at Austin; Kara Kockelman, advisor)
• 2006 Joshua Drucker (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; H. Goldstein and E. Feser, advisors)
• 2007 Alvin Murphy (Duke University; Patrick Bayer, advisor)
• 2008 Paavo Monkkonen (University of California, Berkeley; David E. Dowall, advisor)
• 2009 Elizabeth Mack (Indiana University; Tony H. Grubesic, advisor)
• 2010 Adam Storeygard (Brown University; J. Vernon Henderson, advisor)
• 2011 Peter Richards (Michigan State University; Robert Walker, advisor)
• 2012 Ran Wei (Arizona State University; Alan Murray, advisor)
• 2013  Zhenhua Chen (George Mason University; Kingsley Haynes, advisor)
• 2014 No Fellowship Awarded
• 2015 Ahmadreza Faghih Imani ( McGill University; Naveen Eluru, advisor)
• 2016  Nick Tsivanidis (University of Chicago; Chang-Tai Hsieh, advisor)
• 2017  Lindsay Relihan (University of Pennsylvania; Gilles Duranton, advisor)
• 2018 Daniel Crown (The Ohio State University; Mark Partridge, advisor)
• 2019 Prottoy A. Akbar (University of Pittsburgh, Randall Walsh, advisor)

More information at: http://www.narsc.org/newsite/awards-prizes/stevens-graduate-fellowship/