The London Borough of Hackney is a north east London Borough inside Inner London in the United Kingdom. Southern and eastern parts of the borough are popularly, but unofficially, regarded as being part of east London, with northern and western locations deemed to belong to north London. The London Plan, issued by the Greater London Authority, assigns whole boroughs to sub-regions for statutory monitoring, engagement and resource allocation purposes. The latest 2011 iteration of this program assigns Hackney towards the 'East' sub-region, while the 2008 and 2004 versions assigned the borough to 'North' and 'East' sub-regions respectively.
Hackney is bounded by Islington to the west, Haringey to the north, Waltham Forest towards the north-east, Newham to the east, Tower Hamlets to the south-east and also the City of London to the south-west. It covers a total area of 7.36 square miles. In accordance with population estimates from 2014, the borough has a permanent population of about 263150 inhabitants. A great deal of Hackney retains an inner-city character, but in such places as Dalston large housing estates have been joined by newly created gated communities. The historical and administrative heart of Hackney is the area roughly extending north from Mare Street and around the Church of St John-at-Hackney; known as Hackney Central.
Towards the north of the borough are Upper Clapton and Lower Clapton, Stamford Hill and Stoke Newington. Light industries in the space around the River Lea employ over 3000 people. Some of the area was employed for the 2012 Summer Olympics.