Oxford Street now pic.twitter.com/Sa3JG8SFdS
— Tom Edwards (@BBCTomEdwards) October 26, 2026
London did it: they pedestrianized Oxford Street. The section between Orchard Street and Great Portland Street is now closed to all traffic, including buses, cars, taxis, bikes, and scooters. And already, it looks like this. (For reference, here’s the post I wrote at the beginning of the year when London first approved the plans.)
Pedestrianization is a much-debated topic in urbanist circles. Toronto has, for instance, very few pedestrian-only streets and has debated pedestrianizing Kensington Market for as long as I can remember. But with London and Oxford, the street was widely acknowledged to be in decline and that created the political consensus to do something.
I can’t wait to see the data once it becomes available, but even before then, here is my prediction.
Pedestrianizing Oxford will prove to be an economic and urban success for the city. Other cities will then look to London and say “See, we can do that too!” But the critics will respond with “Yeah, but we’re not Oxford Street in London. We simply don’t have the infrastructure. Where will people park? The businesses will suffer!”
And they will be right, though not for the reasons they think: Not every city is willing to be bold.