Ever since the 18th century when Alexander Pope advised his peers to consult the "genius of place", the idea that designers could interpret and then express the essential identity of a place has been venerated in landscape architecture. This issue of LA+ is devoted to critically exploring the nexus between place and identity with contributions from disciplines as varied as landscape architecture, residential architecture, philosophy, literature, ethics, marketing, anthropology, history, politics, and visual arts. Combining broad scope with intense focus, LA+ Identity shows spatial identity for what it truly is: a conglomeration of multiple factors that effects all of our lives.