This book provides a retrospective and prospective view of regional science. The state of the art in the field of regional science is described in a concise synthesis, followed by descriptions of four major core areas which may be seen as most characteristic and promising research fields now being explored. These four fields are: - spatial patterns of households and firms, with a par- ticular view on locational decisions, analytical tools and policy implications; - spatial impacts of new technologies, with a particular view on spatial dynamics; - economic restructuring and spatial dynamics, includ- ing changes in settlement systems and policy issues; - new analytical methods and models in regional science. Each of these fields is dealt with in a systematic description of new operational research directions, together with contributions, partly of a survey character and partly of an exploratory or creative nature. In summary, the book provides a broad spectrum of recent contributions to the increasingly popular field of regional science.