Twin towns or sister cities are cooperative agreements
between towns,
cities, and
even
counties in geographically and politically distinct areas to promote
cultural and commercial ties.
Terminology
In the
United Kingdom, the term twin towns is most commonly used,
generally referring to town-twinning with Europe, differentiating
with the term sister cities, which is used for agreements with
towns and cities in the Americas. In
Europe,
a variety of terms are used; most commonly twin towns, but
partnership towns, partner towns and friendship towns,
are also used.
Germany
and Poland
use Partnerstadt (Ger.) / Miasto Partnerskie (Pol.)
(Partner Town/City),
France
uses Ville Jumelée (Twinned Town/City), while
Italy has
gemellaggio (twinning) and comune gemellato (twinned
municipality). In the
Netherlands, the term Stedenband (City bond) is used.
North America,
South America,
South Asia, and
Australasia generally use the term sister cities. In
China,
the term friendship city (友好城市,
yǒuhǎo chéngshì) is used, since
Confucianism imbues kinship terms with a hierarchical connotation.
In the former
Soviet Bloc countries twin towns is used, as well as the term
brother cities.[1]
Sometimes, other government bodies enter into a "twinning"
relationship, such as the agreement between the
provinces of
Hainan
in
China and
Jeju-do in
South Korea.
The
Douzelage is a town twinning association with one town from each of
the member states of the
European Union.[2]
Europe
Sign showing twin towns of Saint Sylvain d'Anjou,
France
The earliest form of town twinning in Europe was between the German
city of
Paderborn and the French city of
Le Mans
in 836.[3]
Keighley,
West Yorkshire,
England
had a "sister cities" arrangement with
Suresnes and
Puteaux,
France
starting in 1905.[4][5]
The first recorded modern twinning agreement was between Keighley and
Poix-du-Nord,
Nord,
France in 1920 following the end of
World War I.[5][6]
This was initially referred to as an adoption of the French town, with
formal twinning charters not being exchanged until 1986.[7]
The practice was continued after the
Second World War as a way to bring European people into a closer
understanding of each other and to promote cross-border projects of
mutual benefit.[3][8][9]
For example,
Coventry twinned with
Stalingrad (now
Volgograd) and later with
Dresden
as an act of peace and reconciliation, all three cities having been
heavily bombed during the war.[10]
Each twin city country is represented in a specific ward of the city and
in each ward has a peace garden dedicated to that twin city.[3]
Another early example of town twinning dates back to 1947 when
Bristol
Corporation (later Bristol City Council) sent five 'leading citizens' on
a goodwill mission to
Hanover.
Within Europe, town twinning is supported by the European Union.[3]
The support scheme was established in 1989. In 2003 an annual budget of
about 12 million
euros was
allocated to about 1,300 projects. The
Council of European Municipalities and Regions also works closely
with the Commission (DG Education and Culture) to promote modern, high
quality twinning initiatives and exchanges that involve all sections of
the community. It has launched a website dedicated to town twinning.[11]
Twinned towns are often chosen because of some similarity: thus about 15
towns in
Wales are twinned with towns in
Britanny, and
Oxford
is with other celebrated university towns:
Bonn,
Leiden,
Grenoble and others.
Many German cities still are twinned with other German cities. The
partnerships were established in the last years of former
East Germany. Famous examples are the partnerships of
Hanover
and
Leipzig (both having important
trade fair grounds) or between
Hamburg
and
Dresden.
North America
The first city in North America to establish a sister city
relationship was
Toledo, Ohio, United States with
Toledo, Spain in 1931.
Vancouver,
British Columbia, was also a notable city to enter into an
intercontinental twinning arrangement when, in 1944, it twinned with the
Ukrainian
city of
Odessa, which at the time was part of the
Soviet Union. This was based on aiding the allied port city during
the
Second World War.
Tashkent, the
Uzbek capital, then part of the Soviet Union, was twinned with
Seattle, Washington in 1973 and became the first Soviet city to be
twinned with one in the
US. Another first for town twinning occurred in 1967 when
Rochester, Minnesota and
Knebworth, UK teamed up to bring a primary medical research front.