CityBracket 2025, Round 1, Matchup 8: London vs Oxford

Our final matchup of the first round is a local battle: our two English cities going head to head. I lived in both of these for study abroad: Oxford as a student, London as an instructor. That means in both cases I lived there for about 3-4 months, though I've also visited both multiple times since then--and never with a car. 

Speaking of which...

Category 1: Visiting Without A Car

a) How can you get to the city? 

Well, London of course has more dedicated airports--one typically flies to London to get to Oxford from out of the country. In both cases, it's extremely easy to get to these cities without a car: train and bus (in the UK, "coach" is the term for intercity buses but the US would call them buses) service reach both. 

It's hard to really assess the difference in scale here: most access without a car to Oxford is from or through London, whereas London is usually thought of as connected to large cities in the rest of the UK and Europe.

That said, I think for tourist visits, London is more of a magnet for "non-car" access; I could see someone renting a car to drive out to Oxford, but not London.

Trains are still a major mode for both, however.

VERDICT: London 1, Oxford 0

b) How do you get around?

Again, scale is a bit ridiculous here: London is a massive metro area, Oxford is (a bit like Lincoln last time) really closely centered (or centred) on its university. London has the iconic Tube, and indeed so many ways of getting around I wrote a whole post (and more than one) about them.

Though admittedly people do drive here. Fools.

But if you're a visitor to Oxford, you're almost certainly walking because that is how the colleges (the primary tourist attraction) are laid out. That has to be a win.

Ignore the parked cars (people everywhere do drive. Fools x2).

VERDICT: London 1, Oxford 1

c) What are the limits on a visitor without a car?

Ah, poor Oxford. While the university is the primary tourist destination, Blenheim Palace is a secondary one--and while a bus does go there, it's only the one.

London, on the other hand, seems to be in the business of generating advanced transportation options for its tourist destinations.

VERDICT: London 2, Oxford 1

Category 2: Living Without A Car

a) Can you expect to get to work?

Well, in Oxford you can if you work at the university (and many people do!). In London you pretty much just can. In fact, you probably had better if you live in the congestion zone where they'll charge you for using a car.

London is by far the least car-dependent commuting area of the UK. Oxford isn't far behind, but it is behind by about 10 percentage points.

It's easier the closer you live and work to the colleges, as above, but not everyone does. 

VERDICT: London 3, Oxford 1

b) Can you live the rest of your life?

In my experience, it's very easy to do this in both cities. I love taking a bus or a walk or a bike ride down to the store and back; both cities make this easy and even pleasurable. 

The major difference is cost of living. Globally, these are both very expensive cities. Locally, Oxford is still a third or so cheaper than London. Yes, some of that difference disappears if you live in the more walkable parts of Oxford, but not all.

VERDICT: London 3, Oxford 2

c) How are the basic amenities?

Both cities are well-equipped with parks, museums, and even more basic amenities like sidewalks and bike paths. London has absolutely world-class museums; Oxford does too, on a smaller physical footprint. Both stole a lot of those from the rest of the world, but since these are both English cities we don't need to relitigate the British empire.

The scale works in Oxford's advantage here: the per capita amenities are hard to beat.

VERDICT: London 3, Oxford 3

Category 3: Miscellaneous

a) Are there people on the street?

In both cases, very much yes. However, I've walked widely over both cities and it's yes everywhere in London; in Oxford I could actually get far enough out that the answer was finally no. 

The sidewalks also end, sometimes.

VERDICT: London 4, Oxford 3

b) Where is the city's urbanism going?

London is a hard act to follow here. The Elizabeth Line is a model for modern, up-to-date cross-city transit development. 

Love the Lizzie Line!

Oxford has had some good initiatives (though also some major resistance). But it's not getting London-level development.

VERDICT: London 5, Oxford 3

c) Is it functionally diverse?

Both cities are more diverse than the UK average, and both report a large number of internationally-born residents. In Oxford this is unsurprisingly driven by the university; in London it is a major feature of the urban fabric.

London is, indeed, more diverse than Oxford, especially outside a university setting, and this is reflected when you walk down the street.

VERDICT: London 6, Oxford 3

d) How do people there react to knowing you're not using a car?

Here again, both cities are elite: no one in either will be confused, surprised, or otherwise baffled by a car-free life.

VERDICT: London 7, Oxford 4

e) How do people react to people living close together?

Here Oxford's historical nature militates against it: too much of the city is historically protected (legally or informally) at a relatively low level of density. London has areas of lower density, of course, but it also has large areas of both high-rises and dense apartment/housing blocks.

This isn't to say Oxford doesn't have types of low-rise density the US would call dense. It's to compare the above with this:

They're just a bit different, even though both are good.

FINAL VERDICT: London 8, Oxford 4.

Next: we move on to Round 2 and the stakes (and expectations for each category) get higher.