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 locations considered 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 plan assigns Hackney to 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 to the north, Waltham Forest to the north-east, Newham towards the east, Tower Hamlets to the south-east and also the City of London towards the south-west. It covers a total area of 7.36 square miles. In accordance with population estimates from 2014, the borough includes a permanent population of around 263150 individuals. Much of Hackney retains an inner-city character, but in such locations as Dalston big housing estates have been joined by newly created gated communities. In South Hackney, close to Victoria Park, terraced Georgian, Victorian and Edwardian housing still survives.
To the east is the big open space of Hackney Marshes and the districts of Hackney Wick and Homerton. Light industries in the space around the River Lea employ more than 3000 personnel. Some of the area was made use of for the 2012 Summer Olympics.