This chapter presents a theoretical framework for the simultaneous analysis of the ‘scales’, ‘territories’ and ‘places’ of welfare states. The proposed theoretical framework can be applied for examining, in a comparative manner, the ways in which these three spatial dimensions intersect with one another in local welfare systems and aims at avoiding the one-dimensionalism that has been the pitfall of previous studies on the same topic. The chapter furthermore outlines a spatially sensitive periodisation of welfare state development, which focuses on the historical evolution of central–local government relationships in three subsequent stages of welfare state development.