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 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 whole boroughs to sub-regions for statutory monitoring, engagement and resource allocation purposes. The most recent 2011 iteration of this plan assigns Hackney towards the 'East' sub-region, 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 towards the south-west. It covers a total area of 7.36 square miles. In line with population estimates from 2014, the borough features a permanent population of about 263150 inhabitants. A great deal of Hackney retains an inner-city character, but in such areas 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 surrounding the Church of St John-at-Hackney; called Hackney Central.
Towards the east is the large open space of Hackney Marshes and also the districts of Hackney Wick and Homerton. Light industries inside the space around the River Lea employ over 3000 staff. Some of the area was used for the 2012 Summer Olympics.