ABSTRACT
This chapter evaluates how the Regional Science Association (RSA) has functioned to add value to society and achieve its objectives. Working, study and research groups have been geographically broad networks that have provided ongoing thematic engagement between researchers on subfield issues. The Association's function has been to act as a bridge between institutional, disciplinary and geographical divides, to link those who would otherwise have been disconnected. As organisations that create and sustain knowledge exchange and facilitate the building of social capital, learned societies are nexuses of interaction. The reason that the RSA has changed is found in how it has adapted to link different academic and policy interests in its field and continually encouraged them to engage and how it sustained its organisational structure through changing circumstances. The Association's business model focussed on delivering member benefits, and the relationship between member and Association became predicated on a client-service provider model.
