The London Borough of Hackney is a north east London Borough within Inner London in the United Kingdom. Southern and eastern parts of the borough are popularly, but unofficially, regarded as being a part of east London, with northern and western areas regarded 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, 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 to the north-east, Newham towards the east, Tower Hamlets to the south-east as well as the City of London to the south-west. It covers a total area of 7.36 square miles. In line with population estimates from 2014, the borough has a permanent population of around 263150 individuals. Much of Hackney retains an inner-city character, but in such areas as Dalston big 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.
To the north of the borough are Upper Clapton and Lower Clapton, Stamford Hill and Stoke Newington. Light industries inside the area around the River Lea employ more than 3000 staff. Some of the area was made use of for the 2012 Summer Olympics.