City core has always been a spatial location of significance, though its characteristic qualities are varied considerably both spatially and temporally. This nucleus area is the heart, the brain and the soul of the entire urban system; and is also the oldest part of the city which is continuously worked upon by a set of centripetal forces and centrifugal forces. Being the central part of the city, the core area reflects the historical background of a city. Most of the core area or downtown of cities suffers from economic decline, physical decay and adverse social conditions and is referred to as ‘Zone of Discard’. The problems of City core of Srinagar metropolis are becoming critical with the increase in population and deterioration in existing level of services which are assuming serious propositions in all aspect of urban life which requires immediate attention, and would assume challenging propositions in case not addressed at proper time. Apropos to this, the present study tries to analyse the socio-economic characteristics of city core of the Srinagar metropolis- the zone of discard. The study concludes that city core of the Srinagar city is gradually declining in all respects of urbane living. The authors suggested some revival measures for better urban management of the city downtown.
