Handbook of Regional Science

Manfred M. Fischer is Professor of Economic Geography at Vienna University of Economics and Business and Adjunct Professor at the Chinese Academy of Sciences. He was Co-founder of the prominent interdisciplinary journal Geographical Systems(Gordon & Breach) and is now Editor-in-Chief of its successor, theJournalof Geographical Systems (Springer). Professor Fischer also co-founded the Springerbook series Advances in Spatial Science and served for eight years as Chair of theIGU Commission on Mathematical Models. In this role he was responsible fororganizing several of the Commission’s highly successful international meetingsaround the world, including symposia in Shanghai and Beijing (1990). For morethan 40 years he has consistently made significant contributions to regional sciencein general, and spatial data analysis, geocomputation, and spatial econometrics inparticular. Professor Fischer has published widely, both books and articles, in dozensof distinct academic journals. Some of his books can be read in Chinese. On accountof his scholarly achievements, he has been named a Fellow of the Regional ScienceAssociation International, the Royal Dutch Academy of Sciences, the AustrianAcademy of Sciences, and the International Academy of Sciences for Europe andAsia. Moreover, Professor Fischer has received the highest accolades of the RSAI:the Jean Paelinck Award 2015 for outstanding scholarly achievements in the field of Regional Science Methods, and the Founder’s Medal 2016 that is awarded everyfour years for significant lifetime contributions.
Peter  Nijkamp is Professor of Regional and Urban Economics and EconomicGeography at VU University and affiliated to the Jheronimus Academy of DataScience (JADS);‘s-Hertogenbosch (the Netherlands); the Royal Institute of Tech-nology (KTH), Stockholm (Sweden); and A. Mickiewicz University, Poznan(Poland). He serves on the editorial/advisory boards of more than 30 journals.According tothe RePec list, Professor Nijkamp is one of the top 30 most well-known economists in the world. His main research interests cover quantitative planevaluation, regional and urban modelling, multicriteria analysis, transport systemsanalysis, mathematical systems modelling, technological innovation, entrepreneur-ship, environmental and resource management, and sustainable development. In thepast years, he has focused his research in particular on new quantitative methods for policy analysis as well as on spatial-behavioral analysis of economic agents. Pro-fessor Nijkamp has broad expertise in the area of public policy, services planning,infrastructure management, and environmental protection. In all thesefields he haspublished many books and numerous articles.Professor Nijkamp has been a visiting professor in many universities all over theworld. He is Past President of the European Regional Science Association and of theRegional Science Association International. ProfessorNijkamp is also Fellow of theRoyal Netherlands Academy of Sciences and its former Vice President. From 2002to 2009, he served as President of the Governing Board of the Netherlands ResearchCouncil (NWO). In addition, he is Past President of the European Heads of ResearchCouncils (EUROHORCs). Professor Nijkamp is also Fellow of the AcademiaEuropaea and member of many international scientific organizations. He has actedregularly as advisor to (inter)national bodies and (local and national) governments.In 1996, he was awarded the most prestigious scientific prize in the Netherlands, the Spinoza Award.