In the late 1940s and the early 1950s, the economist Walter Isard worked to draw together a group of academics interested in analyzing regional (i.e., sub-national) development.

These academics were drawn from a number of disciplines: economics, geography, city planning, political science and rural sociology.

Naming their new approach regional science, they envisioned it as an interdisciplinary effort, one that would require unique theoretical concepts, methodological tools, and data.

[1] By 1961, the RSA had 960 members, and its first local "section", which organized conferences for regional scientists located in the western United States.

[2] Gradually issues of coordination among the various sections were worked out, resulting in much the present structure by 1990.