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Twin cities

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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. The term Twin Cities in the United States refers specifically to the cities Minneapolis and Saint Paul which are in the midwestern state of Minnesota.

Cities twinned by proximity do not necessarily match demographically, economically, or politically.

In most cases, cities that grow of form multiple connections into each other's space lose their individual identities, and the border or barrier that still separates them becomes almost irrelevant. An 1873 case of twin cities becoming united cities 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. However, there are twin cities which have been able to resist this final union and have maintained individual identity against increased inter-city transport and typically converging economies and demographics.

Like any metropolises, twin cities may share an airport into whose airport codes are integrated the component initials e.g. DFW (Dallas–Fort Worth) and MSP (Minneapolis–St. Paul).

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.

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).

Asia

Current

India

Historic twin cities
Quasi-twin cities

Europe

Historic

Current

North America

United States

Canada

Historic
International

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

Pairs with unrelated names include:

South America

Australia

Africa

International

Fictional twin cities

Tri cities

Main article: Tri-Cities

Quad cities

Examples of cities formed by amalgamation

Asia

  • Lahore the second largest city of Pakistan has now grown out so much that small towns by this giant city like Shahdara which now have been absorbed in its city limits.
  • Wuhan in China consists of the towns of Wuchang, Hankou, and Hanyang in Hubei Province
  • Islamabad the capital city of Pakistan has been expanded to include smaller towns including Rawat in its territory.
  • Bangkok the capital and largest city of Thailand was created in 1971 when the previous Bangkok province (Phra Nakhon) was merged with Thonburi province.
  • Fukuoka in Japan, a city of 1.4 million people, formerly the twin cities of Hakata and Fukuoka until the late 19th century.
  • 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.
  • Kitakyushu in Japan, a city of 900 thousand 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.
  • 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).

Europe

North America

See also

Notes and references

Notes
  1. ^ Formed historic Al-Mada'in.
  2. ^ Kurashiki is somewhat more of a suburb
  3. ^ Co-centers of a shared major metropolitan area.
  4. ^ Co-centers of a shared micropolitan area.
  5. ^ Co-centers of a shared micropolitan area.
  6. ^ one of the country's earliest examples
  7. ^ formal merger set for 2015.
  8. ^ Co-centers of the Öresund Region, divided by the narrow Øresund strait.
  9. ^ Buffered]] but having broader buffers to the Baltimore–Washington Metropolitan Area
  10. ^ See Bloomington-Normal, Illinois
  11. ^ Champaign was originally known as West Urbana but it has since grown to surpass its neighbor. See Champaign-Urbana metropolitan area
  12. ^ twin cores of the Metroplex of northern Texas.
  13. ^ Nicknamed the Twin Ports, these form the world's largest freshwater port
  14. ^ largest two cities of the three-city Piedmont Triad area.
  15. ^ locally known as the Knowledge Corridor
  16. ^ nicknamed the Petroplex in a nod to the DFW region's nickname, as well as its strong reliance on the oil industry.
  17. ^ The principal cities of the Antelope Valley and High Desert in California.
  18. ^ share the Portland International Jetport (buildings/terminal in one city, runways in the other) and the Port of Portland and retain separate identities.
  19. ^ two anchor cities of the three-city Research Triangle area.
  20. ^ One perhaps more suburban, see Greater Richmond Region
  21. ^ the two principal urban cores of the the San Francisco Bay area.
  22. ^ connected by the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge over the San Francisco Bay
  23. ^ the core cities of the Wyoming Valley in northeastern Pennsylvania.
  24. ^ Main cities of the Tampa Bay Area
  25. ^ 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
  26. ^ Main cities of Metropolitan Halifax, they are geographically separated by Halifax Harbour
  27. ^ form the National Capital Region, geopolitically separated by the Ottawa River.
  28. ^ Separated by the North Saskatchewan River. While the communities are commonly referred to by the collective "The Battlefords," they retain distinctive identities.
  29. ^ 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.
  30. ^ the principal cities of the the San Francisco Bay area.
References
  1. ^ Weather story from 2006 The Hindu Business Line. Retrieved 2006-12-31
  2. ^ "It's a wise man who knows where Chatham ends and Rochester begins." Charles Dickens
  3. ^ New Adventures of Superboy #22, October 1981
  4. ^ World's Finest Comics #259, October–November 1979
  5. ^ The Flash (volume 1) #123, September 1961
  6. ^ Lemon of Troy, season 6, The Simpsons
  7. ^ "Quad Cities too generic a name for ID, WA cities". The Seattle Times. 28 April 2010. Retrieved 22 January 2013.
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