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 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 strategy assigns Hackney towards 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 towards the north, Waltham Forest towards the north-east, Newham towards the east, Tower Hamlets to the south-east plus the City of London towards the south-west. It covers a total area of 7.36 square miles. As outlined by population estimates from 2014, the borough has a permanent population of around 263150 people. A great deal of Hackney retains an inner-city character, but in such places 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; called Hackney Central.
Towards the east is the large open space of Hackney Marshes plus the districts of Hackney Wick and Homerton. Light industries in the space around the River Lea employ over 3000 staff. Some of the area was used for the 2012 Summer Olympics.