Twin cities

This article is about the general concept of "twin cities". For the area typically called the "Twin Cities" in the United States, see Minneapolis–Saint Paul. For other uses, see Twin city (disambiguation).

Twin cities are a special case of two cities or urban centres that are founded in close geographic proximity and then grow into each other over time, losing most of their mutual buffer zone. In the United States, "the Twin Cities" usually refers to the Minneapolis-Saint Paul metropolitan area in Minnesota.

There are no precise criteria for twin-cityhood, but to be considered twin cities, the cities involved have to have a similar administrative status and somewhat comparable sizes; a suburb of a much larger population center is usually not considered to form a twin city with it. For example, South San Francisco (population about 65,000) is not considered a twin city with San Francisco (population about 850,000). However, cities considered twinned by proximity do not necessarily match demographically, economically, or politically.

In many historical cases, cities that grew into each other's space lost their individual identities, and the border or barrier originally separating them became almost irrelevant. An 1873 case of twin cities merging to become a united city is Budapest in Hungary, which began as two settlements (Buda and Pest) facing each other across the Danube at a strategic fording place along a trade route. In China, the three ancient cities of Hankou, Hanyang, and Wuchang, separated by the junction of the Yangtze and Hanjiang rivers, were joined in 1927 into the single entity of Wuhan.

Twin cities may share an airport into whose airport codes are integrated the component initials e.g. DFW (Dallas–Fort Worth), MSP (Minneapolis–St. Paul), and CAK (Akron–Canton, Ohio).

In some cases, such as Albury/Wodonga in Australia, the two cities are permanently divided by a state border, often one that strictly adheres to a geographical landmark, such as the Murray River that divides New South Wales from Victoria, and thus Albury from Wodonga. In other cases twin cities can be divided by an international border, but retain a cultural and historical similarity, for example Haparanda (Sweden) and Tornio (Finland).

Examples

Cross-border example of twin cities: Plaza Internacional of the Frontera de la Paz. On the left, Santana do Livramento (Brazil); on the right, Rivera (Uruguay).
Continent Country Larger City Population Smaller City Population Total Population Notes/Reference
Africa Egypt Cairo 10,230,350 Giza 3,628,062 13,858,412 -
Africa Ghana Sekondi - Takoradi - 445,205 -
Africa Morocco Salé - Rabat - - -
Africa Morocco Fes - Meknes - - -
Africa South Africa Johannesburg - Pretoria - - -
Africa Congo DR and Republic of the Congo Kinshasa - Brazzaville - - -
Africa Zimbabwe & Zambia Victoria Falls - Livingstone - - -
North America Canada Battleford - North Battleford - - [n 1]

Americas

North America

Canada
United States

South America

Argentina
Brazil
Chile
Peru
Venezuela

International

Examples, sharing names or similar names, across an international border include:

Historic

Pairs with unrelated names

Asia

Current

International

Historic

Europe

Current

International

Historic

Oceania

Tri-cities

Quad cities

More than four cities

Examples of cities formed by amalgamation

Asia

Europe

North America

Fictional twin cities

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Separated by the North Saskatchewan River. While the communities are commonly referred to by the collective "The Battlefords," they retain distinctive identities.
  2. ↑ Separated by the North Saskatchewan River. While the communities are commonly referred to by the collective "The Battlefords," they retain distinctive identities.
  3. ↑ Main cities of Metropolitan Halifax, they are geographically separated by Halifax Harbour
  4. ↑ form the National Capital Region, geopolitically separated by the Ottawa River
  5. ↑ Buffered but having broader buffers to the Baltimore–Washington Metropolitan Area
  6. ↑ See Bloomington-Normal, Illinois
  7. ↑ Champaign was originally known as West Urbana but has since outgrown its neighbor. See Champaign-Urbana metropolitan area
  8. ↑ twin cores of the Metroplex of northern Texas.
  9. ↑ Nicknamed the Twin Ports, these form the world's largest freshwater port
  10. ↑ largest two cities of the three-city Piedmont Triad area.
  11. ↑ The principal cities of the Antelope Valley and High Desert in California.
  12. ↑ nicknamed the Petroplex in a nod to the DFW region's nickname, as well as its strong reliance on the oil industry.
  13. ↑ also known as the Twin Cities
  14. ↑ share the Portland International Jetport (buildings/terminal in one city, runways in the other) and the Port of Portland and retain separate identities.
  15. ↑ two anchor cities of the three-city Research Triangle area.
  16. ↑ One perhaps more suburban, see Greater Richmond Region
  17. ↑ the two principal urban cores of the San Francisco Bay area.
  18. ↑ connected by the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge over the San Francisco Bay
  19. ↑ the core cities of the Wyoming Valley in northeastern Pennsylvania.
  20. ↑ Main cities of the Tampa Bay Area
  21. ↑ the cities meet at the border between Texas and Arkansas, and their name is a portmanteau of those states' names as well as that of Louisiana, whose border lies approximately 25 miles to the south. See Texarkana metropolitan area and Ark-La-Tex
  22. ↑ Until 1930, the community, divided by the Alberta-Saskatchewan border, was two separate, adjacent towns. However, with the Town of Lloydminster Acts in administration the large town became integrated while still bi-provincial.
  23. ↑ Formed historic Al-Mada'in.
  24. ↑ Kurashiki is somewhat more of a suburb
  25. ↑ Co-centers of a shared major metropolitan area.
  26. ↑ Co-centers of a shared micropolitan area.
  27. ↑ Co-centers of a shared micropolitan area.
  28. ↑ the principal cities of the San Francisco Bay area.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 "10 Twin Towns and Sister Cities of Indian States". walkthroughindia.com. Retrieved 9 January 2014.
  2. ↑ Weather story from 2006 The Hindu Business Line. Retrieved 2006-12-31
  3. ↑
  4. ↑ "It's a wise man who knows where Chatham ends and Rochester begins." Charles Dickens
  5. ↑ "Tricity residents to get Emaar MGF’s Central Plaza soon". The Financial Express. Jan 6, 2014.
  6. ↑ "Quad Cities too generic a name for ID, WA cities". The Seattle Times. 28 April 2010. Retrieved 22 January 2013.
  7. ↑ http://www.grijalvo.com/Madrid/G_Barrios_Madrid_antes_municipios.htm
  8. ↑ Action Comics #451, DC Comics, September 1975
  9. ↑ New Adventures of Superboy #22, DC Comics, October 1981
  10. ↑ World's Finest Comics #259, DC Comics, October–November 1979
  11. ↑ The Flash (volume 1) #123, DC Comics, September 1961
  12. ↑ See e.g. the introduction of The Hogfather q:Terry Pratchett's Hogfather
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