Area or path around central Whitechapel (5)
I believe the answer is:
patch
'area' is the definition.
(patch is a kind of area)
'path around central whitechapel' is the wordplay.
'around' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'central' indicates the central letters.
The central letter of 'whitechapel' is 'c'.
'path' going around 'c' is 'PATCH'.
'or' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for patch that I've seen before include "bed" , "Repair; area" , "Piece of material used to cover hole in clothes" , "Piece of cloth as decoration or to cover a hole" , "Piece of land, of mending material" .)