The London Borough of Hackney is a north east London Borough within 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 locations 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 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 to the north-east, Newham to the east, Tower Hamlets to the south-east and the City of London to the south-west. It covers a total area of 7.36 square miles. Based on population estimates from 2014, the borough features a permanent population of about 263150 inhabitants. A lot of Hackney retains an inner-city character, but in such areas 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 around the Church of St John-at-Hackney; generally known as Hackney Central.
Towards the north of the borough are Upper Clapton and Lower Clapton, Stamford Hill and Stoke Newington. Light industries within the area surrounding the River Lea employ over 3000 people. Some of the area was utilised for the 2012 Summer Olympics.