This article is about the general concept. For town governments establishing official links, see
Sister city. For the area typically called the "Twin Cities" in the United States, see
Minneapolis–Saint Paul. For other uses, see
Twin city.
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 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, China.
Rome, Italy and
Vatican City, Holy See. Vatican City is the only sovereign state surrounded entirely by a single city, Rome. The Vatican was an area in Rome and part of Italy until 1929, when Pope Pius XI and Benito Mussolini signed the
Lateran Treaty.
The
Florence-Muscle Shoals Metropolitan Area in Alabama, United States, 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.
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
Islamabad, the capital city of
Pakistan, has been expanded to include smaller towns including
Rawat in its territory.
Lahore, the second largest city of
Pakistan, has, as of 2013, grown out so much that small towns by this giant city, such as
Shahdara, have been absorbed in its city limits.
Taiwan
The former cities of
Taoyuan and
Zhongli,
Taiwan, which merged along with the entire county in 2014 to form a single municipality city of Taoyuan, the two cities sit directly next to each other and shares almost the same population.
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), Vietnam.
Eindhoven, the Netherlands, merged with five neighbouring municipalities (
Woensel,
Tongelre,
Stratum,
Gestel en Blaarthem and
Strijp) into the new Groot-Eindhoven ("Greater Eindhoven") in 1920. The prefix "Groot-" was later dropped.
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.
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.
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.
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 28]
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".
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.
^Separated by the
Zambezi River at the location of
Victoria Falls, each city benefits from tourism created by
Victoria Falls, the largest waterfall in the world as measured by combined height and width (see
Victoria Falls Size). The primary airport of the region,
Harry Mwanga Nkumbula International Airport, is located in Livingstone and brings tourists from all over the world. The two cities share an international border that is located halfway across the
Victoria Falls Bridge, which was completed in 1905.
^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.
^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.
^Nicknamed the
Petroplex in a nod to the
DFW region's nickname, as well as its strong reliance on the oil industry.
^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.
This article is about the general concept. For town governments establishing official links, see
Sister city. For the area typically called the "Twin Cities" in the United States, see
Minneapolis–Saint Paul. For other uses, see
Twin city.
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 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, China.
Rome, Italy and
Vatican City, Holy See. Vatican City is the only sovereign state surrounded entirely by a single city, Rome. The Vatican was an area in Rome and part of Italy until 1929, when Pope Pius XI and Benito Mussolini signed the
Lateran Treaty.
The
Florence-Muscle Shoals Metropolitan Area in Alabama, United States, 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.
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
Islamabad, the capital city of
Pakistan, has been expanded to include smaller towns including
Rawat in its territory.
Lahore, the second largest city of
Pakistan, has, as of 2013, grown out so much that small towns by this giant city, such as
Shahdara, have been absorbed in its city limits.
Taiwan
The former cities of
Taoyuan and
Zhongli,
Taiwan, which merged along with the entire county in 2014 to form a single municipality city of Taoyuan, the two cities sit directly next to each other and shares almost the same population.
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), Vietnam.
Eindhoven, the Netherlands, merged with five neighbouring municipalities (
Woensel,
Tongelre,
Stratum,
Gestel en Blaarthem and
Strijp) into the new Groot-Eindhoven ("Greater Eindhoven") in 1920. The prefix "Groot-" was later dropped.
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.
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.
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.
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 28]
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".
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.
^Separated by the
Zambezi River at the location of
Victoria Falls, each city benefits from tourism created by
Victoria Falls, the largest waterfall in the world as measured by combined height and width (see
Victoria Falls Size). The primary airport of the region,
Harry Mwanga Nkumbula International Airport, is located in Livingstone and brings tourists from all over the world. The two cities share an international border that is located halfway across the
Victoria Falls Bridge, which was completed in 1905.
^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.
^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.
^Nicknamed the
Petroplex in a nod to the
DFW region's nickname, as well as its strong reliance on the oil industry.
^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.