Twin cities
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Twin cities are a special case of two neighboring cities or urban centres that grow into a single conurbation – or narrowly separated urban areas – over time. There are no formal criteria, but twin cities are generally comparable in status and size, though not necessarily equal; a city and a substantially smaller suburb would not typically qualify, even if they were once separate. Tri-cities and quad cities are similar phenomena involving three or four municipalities.
A common – but not universal – scenario is two cities that developed concurrently on opposite sides of a river. For example, Minneapolis and Saint Paul in Minnesota – one of the most widely known pairs of "Twin Cities" – were founded several miles apart on opposite sides of the Mississippi River, and competed for prominence as they grew.
In some cases, twin cities are separated by a state border, such as Albury (New South Wales) and Wodonga (Victoria) in Australia, on opposite sides of the Murray River. Islamabad and Rawalpindi are the twin cities of Pakistan; Islamabad is the Federal Territory of Pakistan, while Rawalpindi is a city in the Punjab province. Cities on opposite sides of international borders sometimes share enough cultural and historical identity to be seen as twins, such as Haparanda (Sweden) and Tornio (Finland), Leticia (Colombia) and Tabatinga (Brazil), or Valga (Estonia) and Valka (Latvia).
In some cases twin cities eventually merge into a single legal municipality, such as Buda and Pest merging in 1873 into Budapest, Hungary; Brooklyn being annexed by New York City in 1898; or the three ancient cities of Hankou, Hanyang, and Wuchang joining in 1927 into Wuhan.
As a single urban area, twin cities may share an airport whose airport codes include both cities' initials, e.g., DFW (Dallas–Fort Worth), LBA (Leeds–Bradford), MSP (Minneapolis–Saint Paul), RDU (Raleigh and Durham), and CAK (Akron–Canton).
Twin cities
 |
List of International border towns and cities
Africa
| Border towns | Countries |
|---|---|
| Kinshasa and Brazzaville |  Democratic Republic of the Congo /  Republic of the Congo
|
| Victoria Falls and Livingstone |  Zimbabwe /  Zambia
|
Asia
| Border towns | Countries |
|---|---|
| Astara and Astara |  Azerbaijan /  Iran
|
| Dandong and Sinuiju |  China /  North Korea
|
| Manzhouli and Zabaykalsk | China /  Russia
|
| Heihe and Blagoveshchensk | |
| Dongxing and Mong Cai | China /  Vietnam
|
| Hekou and Lao Cai | |
| Johor Bahru and Singapore[1] |  Malaysia /  Singapore
|
| Vientiane and Nong Khai |  Thailand /  Laos
|
| Dansavan and Lao Bao | Laos / Vietnam
|
| Al Ain and Al Buraimi |  United Arab Emirates /  Oman
|
| Agartala and Akhaura |  India /  Bangladesh
|
Europe
North America
South America
| Border town | Countries |
|---|---|
| Sant'Ana do Livramento, Rio Grande do Sul and Rivera |  Brazil /  Uruguay
|
List of internal border towns and cities
Africa
| Twin towns | Country |
|---|---|
| Cairo and Giza.[2] Triple cities if counting Shubra El Kheima. |  Egypt
|
| Port Said and Port Fuad | |
| Sekondi-Takoradi |  Ghana
|
| Johannesburg and Pretoria, Gauteng Province |  South Africa
|
Asia
Historic
| Twin towns | Country |
|---|---|
| Victoria and Kowloon, colonial Hong Kong—although, in both colonial Hong Kong and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Victoria is the only city recognised by law; they were widely considered to be separate cities until at least the mid-1970s.[7] |  British Hong Kong
|
| Wuhan (merger of Wuchang, Hankou, Hanyang) | China
|
| Chirala-Perala | India
|
| Bangalore Cantonment and Bengaluru Pete along with their suburbs merged to form modern Bangalore | |
| Fukuoka (merger of east side of Naka river, Hakata, and the west side, Fukuoka) |  Japan
|
| Ise (merger of Uji, Yamada) | |
| Joetsu (merger of Takada, Naoetsu) | |
| Naha and Shuri, Okinawa, once separate cities. Shuri became integrated as a district of Naha. | |
| Saigon and Cholon, merged into Saigon-Cholon, now Ho Chi Minh City. |  South Vietnam
|
Europe
Historic
| Twin towns | Country |
|---|---|
| Knokke and Heist-aan-Zee. United into Knokke-Heist |  Belgium
|
| Gradec and Kaptol. United into Zagreb |  Croatia
|
| Frýdek and Místek. United into Frýdek-Místek |  Czech Republic
|
| Barmen and Elberfeld. United into Wuppertal. |  Germany
|
| Kouvola and Kuusankoski. United into Kouvola. |  Finland
|
| West Berlin, West Germany and East Berlin. United into Berlin. |  East Germany
|
| Buda and Pest. United into Budapest, |  Hungary
|
| Bielsko and Biała. United into Bielsko-Biała. |  Poland
|
| City of London and City of Westminster. Absorbed into London. |  United Kingdom
|
| Berwick-upon-Tweed and Tweedmouth, until the former was taken by England from Scotland. | |
| Äänekoski and Suolahti. United into Äänekoski. | Finland
|
North America
Historic
| Twin city | Country |
|---|---|
| Lloydminster, Alberta/Saskatchewan |  Canada
|
| Thunder Bay, Ontario | |
| Saginaw and East Saginaw, Michigan[n 21] |  United States
|
| Stanwood and East Stanwood, Washington[n 22] | United States
|
| Brooklyn and New York City, New York[n 23] | United States
|
South America
| Twin cities | Country |
|---|---|
| Carmen de Patagones and Viedma |  Argentina
|
| Paraná, Entre Ríos and Santa Fe | |
| Americana, São Paulo and Santa Bárbara d'Oeste | Brazil
|
| Juazeiro and Petrolina | |
| Olinda and Recife | |
| Vila Velha and Vitória | |
| Ponta Porã and Mato Grosso do Sul | |
| Concepción and Talcahuano |  Chile
|
| Coquimbo and La Serena | |
| Valparaiso and Viña del Mar | |
| Pedro Juan Caballero and Amambay |  Paraguay
|
| Callao and Lima |  Peru
|
| Acarigua and Araure |  Venezuela
|
| Guarenas and Guatire |
Oceania
| Twin city | Country |
|---|---|
| Albury and Wodonga |  Australia
|
| Canberra and Queanbeyan | |
| Darwin and Palmerston | |
| Forster and Tuncurry | |
| Gold Coast and Tweed Heads | |
| Harden and Murrumburrah | |
| Kalgoorlie and Boulder | |
| Perth and Fremantle | |
| Townsville and Thuringowa | |
| Napier and Hastings |  New Zealand
|
Tri-cities
Quad cities
| Border towns | Bordering countries |
|---|---|
| Xinhui, Taishan, Kaiping, and Enping together formed Siyi area in Jiangmen, Guangdong | China
|
| Helsinki, Espoo, Kauniainen and Vantaa in Uusimaa; together form the largest metropolis in the country and its actual capital area. | Finland
|
| Pattaya-Chonburi Metropolitan Area consists of the City of Pattaya, Town of Chonburi, Portal town of Laem Chabang and Town of Sattahip on the west coast of Chonburi Province, Thailand | Thailand
|
| The West Yorkshire Built-up Area consists of the cities of Leeds, Bradford and Wakefield, and the large town of Huddersfield, United Kingdom. | United Kingdom
|
| The Florence-Muscle Shoals Metropolitan Area in Alabama, is locally referred to as "the Quad Cities", with Florence, Muscle Shoals, Sheffield, and Tuscumbia, Alabama. Formerly, when Muscle Shoals was a mere village, this region was known as "Tri-Cities", Alabama. In fact, all except Florence are incorporated as towns. | United States
|
| Quad Cities of Davenport and Bettendorf, Iowa, and Rock Island and Moline, Illinois. It also includes a fifth member, East Moline, Illinois. | |
| Allentown/Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and Easton, Pennsylvania/Phillipsburg, New Jersey; the collective area is often called the Lehigh Valley | |
| The Quad Cities of Minnesota, consist of Virginia, Eveleth, Gilbert, and Mountain Iron. | |
| The cities of Pullman, Washington, Moscow, Idaho, Lewiston, Idaho and Clarkston, Washington, have marketed themselves as "Quad Cities."[10] |
More than four cities
| Border towns | Country |
|---|---|
| The Triangle Region, consisting of Billund, Fredericia, Haderslev, Kolding, Middelfart, Vejen and Vejle, . |  Denmark
|
| The Ruhr district consisting of Dortmund, Essen, Duisburg, Bochum, Oberhausen, Mülheim, Bottrop, Gelsenkirchen and Herne in its core. | Germany
|
| The cities of New Delhi, Noida, Greater Noida, Ghaziabad, Gurgaon and Faridabad have formed a huge metropolitan area known as National Capital Region (India). | India
|
| The cities of Kuala Lumpur, Petaling Jaya, Subang Jaya, Puchong, Shah Alam, Klang, Port Klang, Putrajaya, Cyberjaya, and Kajang have formed a huge metropolitan area (around the size of Singapore) known as Greater Kuala Lumpur. | Malaysia
|
| The cities of Karaganda, Temirtau, Shakhtinsk, Abai, Saran, Topar, Dolinka, Shahan, Kokpekti, and Novodolinsky form an industrial-mining area known since Soviet times as Karbass (Karaganda coal basin). |  Kazakhstan
|
| Illinois and Iowa: The cities of Davenport and Bettendorf in Iowa; Rock Island, Moline and East Moline in Illinois form a metropolitan area known as the Quad Cities. | United States
|
| Michigan and Wisconsin include the 6 cities of Iron Mountain, Kingsford, Quinnesec (in Michigan), Aurora, and Niagara (in Wisconsin). The area is collectively known as the Iron Mountain Area. | |
| Virginia: Norfolk, Chesapeake, Hampton, Newport News, Portsmouth, Suffolk, and Virginia Beach; the cities' collective metropolitan area is often called Hampton Roads |
Examples of cities formed by amalgamation
Asia
- China
- Wuhan in China consists of the towns of Wuchang, Hankou, and Hanyang in Hubei Province.
- India
- Delhi: What used to be Old Delhi, New Delhi, and a collection of smaller villages has now grown into the current megalopolis that is seen today, also known as the National Capital Region (NCR)
- In Telangana, the cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad are merged to form Greater Hyderabad.
- Japan
- Fukuoka in Japan, a city of 1.4 million people, formerly the twin cities of Hakata and Fukuoka until the late 19th century.
- Kitakyushu in Japan, a city of 900,000 people, created in 1963 by the merger of Yahata, Kokura, Moji, Wakamatsu, and Tobata. Yahata and Kokura had formerly been major cities in their own right.
- Saitama in Japan, a city of 1.2 million people, created in 2001 by the merger of the cities of Urawa, Omiya, Yono, and later Iwatsuki. Urawa and Omiya could formerly have been considered twin cities.
- Pakistan
- Taiwan
- Thailand
- Bangkok, the capital and largest city of Thailand, was created in 1971, when the previous Bangkok province (Phra Nakhon) was merged with Thonburi province. Vietnam
- The cities of Saigon and Cholon merged in 1931 to form a single city named Saigon-Cholon; in 1956, the name Cholon was dropped and the city became known as Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City).
- The city of Hà Đông, capital of Hà Tây Province was merged into Hà Nội upon the latter's amalgamation into Hà Nội in August 2008. Since then, Hà Đông became an urban district (quận) of Hà Nội.
Europe
- Germany
- Greece
- Hungary
- The Netherlands
- Spain
- Madrid, evolved by absorption of other towns (like Tetuán de las Victorias, Vallecas, Chamartín de la Rosa or Aravaca)[11]
- United Kingdom
- Edinburgh, Scotland, absorbed a number of surrounding villages, but most notably the separate burgh of Leith.
- London, grew from its cores in the City of London and the City of Westminster to encompass many other towns and villages within neighbouring counties and absorbed almost the whole of Middlesex county.
- Manchester and the city of Salford in the Metropolitan County of Greater Manchester (formerly in Lancashire).
- Stoke-on-Trent was created in 1910 from the towns of Burslem, Hanley, Tunstall, Longton, Fenton and Stoke, taking its name from the latter. Neighbouring Newcastle-under-Lyme remains a separate town.
North America
- Canada
- Port Alberni, British Columbia, Canada, was formed in 1967 when Alberni and Port Alberni, merged to become one city.
- Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, amalgamated with 12 surrounding municipalities and its metropolitan corporation in 1971 under what was referred to as unicity reforms in local government restructuring.
- Halifax and Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada, were merged in 1996 along with Bedford and Halifax County to create the Halifax Regional Municipality.
- Greater Sudbury, Ontario, Canada, was formed in 2001 by the amalgamation of the former Regional Municipality of Sudbury, comprising the municipalities of Sudbury, Nickel Centre, Valley East, Capreol, Rayside-Balfour, Onaping Falls and Walden, plus a number of previously unamalgamated townships. The amalgamation made it the most populous city in the Northern Ontario region.
- Kingston, Ontario, Canada, was amalgamated in 1998 with the neighboring Kingston and Pittsburgh Townships.
- Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, was given its large area by the amalgamation in 2001 of the old City of Ottawa, the suburbs of Nepean, Kanata, Gloucester, Rockcliffe Park, Vanier and Cumberland, Orleans, and the rural townships of West Carleton, Osgoode, Rideau, and Goulbourn
- Toronto, Ontario, Canada, formed by an amalgamation of the Old Toronto with East York, Etobicoke, North York, Scarborough and York, which were themselves products of earlier amalgamations.
- Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada (Fort William and Port Arthur).
- Gatineau, Quebec, Canada, formed by the amalgamation of the old City of Gatineau, City of Hull, City of Aylmer, City of Buckingham and the Municipality of Masson-Angers all facing the City of Ottawa, Ontario from the north shore of the Ottawa River.
- Montreal, Quebec, Canada, was merged with the other 27 communities on the Island of Montreal by an act in the Quebec Parliament in 2002. Following a change in the provincial government, several communities later voted via referendum to de-merge and there are now a total of 15, leaving Montreal merged with the other 12.
- Saguenay, Quebec, Canada (Chicoutimi, Jonquière, et al.)
- Lloydminster, Canada, on the Saskatchewan-Alberta border, was formed as a single entity in 1903, when both future provinces were part of the Northwest Territories, but was divided into two separate entities in 1905 because the border between the newly created provinces bisected the community. In 1930, the two towns were reunited as a single town under the shared jurisdiction of both provinces, and Lloydminster was reincorporated as a single city in 1958.
- United States
- Helena–West Helena, Arkansas was formed in 2006 by the merger of the previous cities of Helena and West Helena.
- Fremont, California was formed in 1956 by the combination of the five towns of Centerville, Irvington, Niles, Mission San Jose, and Warm Springs, California. The town of Newark has always refused to merge into Fremont, and Newark is completely surrounded by Fremont.
- Boston, Massachusetts is made up of the former towns of Boston, Dorchester, Brighton, Roxbury, Charlestown, and Hyde Park.
- Iron River, Michigan absorbed the nearby city of Stambaugh and village of Mineral Hills in July 2000.
- Minneapolis, Minnesota. St. Anthony (not to be confused with St. Anthony Village, a modern city which is a suburb) was a twin city to Minneapolis in the two cities' youth. Minneapolis annexed St. Anthony in the late 1800s.
- Park Hills, Missouri was formed in 1994 by a four-way municipal merger involving the cities of Flat River, Elvins, and Esther, plus the village of Rivermines.
- Jersey City, New Jersey, was incorporated in 1820, and slowly grew by annexing surrounding municipalities: Van Vorst Twp. (1851), Bergen City (1869), Hudson City (1869), Bergen Twp. (1869) and finally Greenville Twp. (1873).
- New York City, New York (five boroughs, historically especially between Manhattan and Brooklyn)
- What is now the city of Winston-Salem, North Carolina was once two separate towns called Winston and Salem that were combined into one.[n 25]
- Cleveland (Cleveland and Ohio City) in Ohio
- Lincoln City, Oregon was formed in 1965 by merging the extant seaside towns of Oceanlake, Delake, and Taft, with the adjoining unincorporated areas of Nelscott and Cutler City.
- Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, which absorbed the cities of South Bethlehem, and West Bethlehem. The former Bethlehem and South Bethlehem are situated in Northampton County, and West Bethlehem is in Lehigh County. As a result, present-day Bethlehem straddles the county line.
- Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, annexed Allegheny City, which is now the quarter of the city that lies north of the Allegheny and Ohio rivers. Also annexed was Birmingham, now referred to as the "South Side".
- Richmond (Richmond and Manchester) in central Virginia
- Bellingham, Washington was formed from four cities, Fairhaven, Sehome, Bellingham and Whatcom.
Fictional twin cities
- Ankh-Morpork, from Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels, is referred to as "the twin cities of proud Ankh and pestilent Morpork"[12]
- Besźel and Ul Qoma in China Miéville's novel The City & the City are intertwined twin city-states in Eastern Europe whose inhabitants have trained themselves to only see the city they live in and unsee the city they don't.
- Central City and Keystone City, from the current Flash comics, are shown as twin cities. Before the 1985-86 miniseries Crisis on Infinite Earths, Central and Keystone are presented as located in the same space but on different parallel Earths.[13]
- Duckburg and St. Canard were depicted in the cartoon Darkwing Duck as sister cities connected by a bridge, very similar to Oakland and San Francisco.[14][15]
- Gotham City (the home of Batman) and Metropolis (the home of Superman) have sometimes been presented as twin cities, mainly in 1970s and 1980s stories by DC Comics. In stories presenting them as twin cities, Gotham City and Metropolis are located on opposite sides of a large bay (identified as Delaware Bay in 1990's The Atlas of the DC Universe), with both cities linked by the Metro-Narrows Bridge,[16] a suspension bridge resembling New York City's Verrazano-Narrows Bridge.[17][18]
- Helium, from the Barsoom series of novels by Edgar Rice Burroughs, consists of the twin cities Greater Helium and Lesser Helium.[19]
See also
- List of divided cities
- Cross-border town naming
- Megacity
- List of metropolitan areas that overlap multiple countries
- Ecumenopolis
- Metropolis
- Megalopolis
- Sister city
Notes
- ^ Formed historic Al-Mada'in.
- ^ Co-centers of a shared micropolitan area.
- ^ Co-centers of a shared micropolitan area.
- ^ Kurashiki is somewhat more of a suburb
- ^ Co-centers of a shared major metropolitan area. See Keihanshin
- ^ Co-centers of a shared major metropolitan area.
- ^ Main cities of Metropolitan Halifax, they are geographically separated by Halifax Harbour
- ^ Separated by the North Saskatchewan River. While the communities are commonly referred to by the collective "The Battlefords," they retain distinctive identities.
- ^ 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.
- ^ Main cities of the Tampa Bay Area.
- ^ Champaign was originally known as West Urbana but has since outgrown its neighbor. See Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area.
- ^ Also called the Twin Cities or L–A. See Lewiston–Auburn
- ^ Nicknamed the Twin Ports, these form the world's largest freshwater port.
- ^ Also known as the Twin Cities
- ^ The cities are connected by two twin cantilever bridges which merge the two cities together as sister cities. The cities meet on the Mississippi and Louisiana state border and along the Mississippi River adjacent to each other. They both share long history together. Natchez, Mississippi is also a historical part of Concordia Parish, Louisiana, to which Vidalia is the seat of Concordia Parish. See Natchez–Vidalia Bridge, Concordia Parish and Adams County, Mississippi.
- ^ See Fargo–Moorhead.
- ^ The core cities of the Wyoming Valley in northeastern Pennsylvania.
- ^ The two largest cities of Upstate South Carolina. Their shared international airport is named after both cities (Greenville–Spartanburg International Airport).
- ^ Twin cores of the Metroplex of northern Texas.
- ^ Nicknamed the Petroplex in a nod to the DFW region's nickname, as well as its strong reliance on the oil industry.
- ^ East Saginaw annexed by Saginaw in 1889.
- ^ The two Stanwoods consolidated in 1960.
- ^ Prior to their consolidation into a single city in 1898 - as noted in the poem "The New Colossus", which is inscribed on a plaque at the Statue of Liberty.
- ^ the principal cities of the San Francisco Bay area.
- ^ Nicknamed the Twin City.
References
- ^ "Johor Bahru & Singapore: Is the conurbation defining megaregion in the South-East Asia?". Young Academic network. Retrieved 2023-05-21.
- ^ "5 Famous Sets of Twin Cities From Around the Globe". Trip Trivia. 2019-10-03. Retrieved 2023-05-21.
- ^ "The Chief Executive's 2021 Policy Address - Policy Address".
- ^ a b "10 Twin Towns and Sister Cities of Indian States". walkthroughindia.com. 26 September 2013. Retrieved 9 January 2014.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o "10 Twin Towns and Sister Cities of Indian States". walkthroughindia.com. 26 September 2013. Retrieved 9 January 2014.
- ^ Weather story from 2006 The Hindu Business Line. Retrieved 2006-12-31
- ^ [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7]
- ^ "It's a wise man who knows where Chatham ends and Rochester begins." Charles Dickens
- ^ "Tricity residents to get Emaar MGF's Central Plaza soon". The Financial Express. Jan 6, 2014.
- ^ "Quad Cities too generic a name for ID, WA cities". The Seattle Times. 28 April 2010. Retrieved 22 January 2013.
- ^ "Juan Manuel Grijalvo - Madrid - Barrios desaparecidos y actuales - Antiguos municipios independientes".
- ^ See e.g. the introduction of The Hogfather q:Terry Pratchett's Hogfather
- ^ The Flash (volume 1) #123, DC Comics, September 1961
- ^ Starr, Joe (2015-08-05). "Nerd Rabbit Hole: A Guide To Disney's Duck Universe". Pajiba. Retrieved 2018-05-10.
- ^ "San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge". www.visitcalifornia.com. Retrieved 2018-05-10.
- ^ Action Comics #451, DC Comics, September 1975
- ^ New Adventures of Superboy #22, DC Comics, October 1981
- ^ World's Finest Comics #259, DC Comics, October–November 1979
- ^ Burroughs, Edgar Rice (1917). A Princess of Mars. A. C. McClurg & Co. pp. 279–80, 305, 313–14.
