Battersea is a largely residential inner-city district of south London in the London Borough of Wandsworth, England. It has Battersea Park, one of southwest London's main parks, and is on the south side of the River Thames, 2.9 miles (4.8 km) south-west of Charing Cross.
Noted for the long-awaited bringing of the London Underground in the 21st century, two main railway lines cross here at what was the country's busiest station. There is quite a significant social and economic divide between "North" and "South" Battersea, where St John's Hill and Lavender Hill Roads both form a somewhat simplistic but also largely accurate dividing line between predominantly high-density social housing estates to the North and the expensive houses of the so-called "between the commons" area. In all directions along these lines are several of the borough's council estates which replaced some of the severely overcrowded housing serving its former power station, its locomotive, carriage and heavy industrial works, with interpretations and variants ranging from brutalist to spacious garden courtyards. Elsewhere in Battersea are a growing proportion of private architecturally-acclaimed riverside, parkside and typical London homes. In 2001, Battersea had a population of 75,651 people. Landmarks include New Covent Garden Market and the Royal Academy of Dance. Wandsworth Common and Clapham Common border parts of this large district, which traditionally also includes Nine Elms. Railway stations in Battersea are in fare zone 2.