Low and Altman (1992) suggest that evolution of concepts like place within the social sciences often follows a common trajectory. In the first stage, scholars treat a new concept as if there is a consensus about its meaning. The second stage is initiated by an erosion of this presumed consensus. Scholars then debate the meaning of concepts with greater rigor, developing taxonomies to characterize different but often related phenomena encompassed within the original concept in a quest for conceptual clarity amid
the diversity of interpretations. The third stage involves ‘‘development of systematic theoretical positions and clearly delineated programs of research and application of knowledge to the solution of practical problems’’ (p. 3).