| I used the original square mile of the town as my boundaries as this encapsulates pretty well the historic boundaries of Oxford and the majority of its pre- WWII population. These boundaries also include the majority of Miami University, the reason for the town’s existence. Miami University was chartered in 1809 and the town of Oxford laid out the following year. Thus the fortunes of town and university were inextricably linked since their founding. From an urbanist perspective historic Oxford is a pleasant mostly walkable environment including the bucolic Miami University Georgian campus, main street like Uptown, surrounded by historic but mostly college serving housing. Ringing historic Oxford on three sides is a well establish park system built along rivers and creeks. The major urban downsides to Oxford is a lack of walkable schools (with the middle and high school located on the urban fringes), a lack of owner occupied housing in the city core, and distance from downtown Cincinnati, the hub City in urban metro to which Oxford belongs. |
URBAN STRENGTHS:
| * Good public transit for a small town. Miami University provides excellent shuttle system. * Augmenting the convenience of bike on campus there are several dedicated bike lanes outside of campus. * The rental situation is different from a typical urban neighborhood as this is a college town. Because of this there are lots of rental options, albeit geared towards students. 1-bedrooms generally go for $600-$700 & 2-bedrooms in the low $1,000s. Entire houses rent in the $2,000s. * Not a ton of dedicated public park space within historic Oxford other than Oxford Memorial Park but plenty of green space once you include all the quads and sport fields on Miami’s campus. Also a whole system of trails and greenways ringing historic Oxford. * Culturally Oxford is enriched by the performing arts brought by the university. Outside of campus there is a community theater and plenty of bars and restaurants. * High Street hosts a solid array of cafes, restaurants, bars, boutiques, and neighborhood serving retail. There is also a drug store, Ace Hardware, library, and post office located off high street. Locust street, the western edge of historic oxford is an auto centric strip but provides important conveniences such as a supermarket, Moon co-op, and other retail options. * Quality architecture on both campus and off including a gorgeous Georgian themed campus, Italianate commercial on high street and good urban infill. * Great tree canopy both on and off campus. |
URBAN WEAKNESSES:
| * Access to Dwtn Cincinnati is very inconvenient (50 mins) but the majority of Oxford residents work in Oxford. Dwtn Hamilton is also only 20 minutes away. * Almost all for-sale property in historic Oxford are rental properties. Sadly one needs to resident in more suburban parts of town to find owner occupied property. * Oxford Elementary is located just outside of the historic core. Unfortunately the middle school and high school are located on the edge of town, and thus are not walkable. |
Evaluating our Urban Communities [with a focus on America] 