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 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 to the 'East' sub-region, whilst the 2008 and 2004 versions assigned the borough to 'North' and 'East' sub-regions respectively.
Hackney is bounded by Islington towards the west, Haringey to the north, Waltham Forest towards the north-east, Newham to the east, Tower Hamlets towards the south-east as well as the City of London towards the south-west. It covers a total area of 7.36 square miles. According to population estimates from 2014, the borough features a permanent population of around 263150 people. A lot of Hackney retains an inner-city character, but in such locations as Dalston large 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; generally known as Hackney Central.
To the east is the large open space of Hackney Marshes along with the districts of Hackney Wick and Homerton. Light industries inside the area around the River Lea employ over 3000 individuals. Some of the area was used for the 2012 Summer Olympics.