About WRSA
Founded in 1961, the Western Regional Science Association (WRSA) is an international multidisciplinary group of university scholars and government and private-sector practitioners dedicated to the scientific analysis of regions. WRSA is known around the world for the quality of its signature “seminar-style” invited paper sessions. Full papers (not just abstracts) must be submitted by our traditional October 15 deadline (draft version okay at this stage, with conference version due no later than December 31). At the conference, each paper is allocated 45 full minutes of Program time — inclusive of the remarks of an assigned discussant and open discussion with session attendees. All paper presenters can expect to be assigned discussant and/or chair duties.
WRSA Annual Meeting paper sessions are organized on topics such as: Resource Utilization, Impact Analysis, Regional Modeling, Location of Economic Activity, Regional and Urban Planning, Environmental Quality, Regional Development Issues, Interregional Migration, Transportation Problems, Locational Criteria for Public Services and Facilities, Housing — Financing and Renewal, Tourism and Recreation, and Energy Issues.
The Western Regional Science Association is a founding member of both the Pacific Regional Science Conference Organization (PRSCO) and the North American Regional Science Council (NARSC). These two organizations are nonmembership, operational arms of the umbrella, worldwide scholarly membership group: the Regional Science Association International (RSAI).
PRSCO sponsors the biannual Pacific Conferences of the RSAI in odd-numbered years and a PRSCO Institute (a smaller, more focused seminar-style gathering) in even-numbered years. NARSC sponsors the annual North American Meetings of the RSAI.
As a member organization, WRSA periodically serves as host of both the Pacific Conferences and North American Meetings of the RSAI. WRSA hosted the 17th Pacific Conference, PRSCO17, in Portland, Oregon in 2001 the 45th N. American Meetings of the RSAI, in Santa Fe, New Mexico in 1998, the 56th North American Meetings of the RSAI in San Francisco, November 18-21, 2009, and the 62nd North American Meetings of the RSAI in Portland, Oregon, in 2015.