Hackney
The London Borough of Hackney is a north east London Borough inside Inner London in the UK. Southern and eastern parts of the borough are popularly, but unofficially, regarded as being a part of east London, with northern and western areas deemed to belong to north London. The London Plan, issued by the Greater London Authority, assigns entire 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, even though the 2008 and 2004 versions assigned the borough to 'North' and 'East' sub-regions respectively.
Hackney is bounded by Islington to the west, Haringey towards the north, Waltham Forest towards the north-east, Newham towards the east, Tower Hamlets towards the south-east and also the City of London towards the south-west. It covers a total area of 7.36 square miles. Based on population estimates from 2014, the borough has a permanent population of about 263150 inhabitants. A lot of Hackney retains an inner-city character, but in such places as Dalston big housing estates have been joined by newly developed gated communities. The historical and administrative heart of Hackney is the area roughly extending north from Mare Street and surrounding the Church of St John-at-Hackney; called Hackney Central.
To the east is the big open space of Hackney Marshes and also the districts of Hackney Wick and Homerton. Light industries within the space around the River Lea employ over 3000 individuals. Some of the area was made use of for the 2012 Summer Olympics.
