Twin cities (geographical proximity) Totally Explained

Everything about Twin Cities Geographical Proximity totally explained

Twin cities are a special case of two cities or urban centres which are born in close geographic proximity and then grow into each other over time. The term Twin Cities in the United States refers specifically to the cities Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota.
   Cities twinned geographically don't necessarily match demographically, economically, or politically.
   In the normal course of things, cities which grow into each other's space in this way lose their individual identity and whatever border or barrier still separates them becomes irrelevant until they fuse into one new city. One famous example of this 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, with another being London, England, which resulted in the merger of two cities: the City of London and the City of Westminster. But there are twin cities which have been able to resist this final union and have maintained individual identity against the tides of history, economics and demographics.
   Twin cities often share an airport, into whose airport code are integrated the initials of both cities; DFW (Dallas-Fort Worth) and MSP (Minneapolis-St. Paul) are well-known examples.

Examples

Asia

The capital of the medieval Khazar Empire, Atil-Khazaran, which was situated on the western and eastern banks of the Volga River, respectively.
Islamabad and Rawalpindi, Pakistan
Hyderabad and Secunderabad, India
Bhubaneswar and Cuttack, India
Hubli and Dharwad, India
Ramallah and al-Bireh, in the West Bank
Taipei and Keelung, Taiwan
Taoyuan and Jhongli, Taiwan
Seoul and Incheon, South Korea

Europe

Manchester and Salford, UK

Brighton and Hove, UK, though there are several other smaller towns like Worthing which make up the metropolitan area.

Ludwigshafen and Mannheim, Germany

Ulm and Neu-Ulm, Germany

Mainz and Wiesbaden, Germany

Porsgrunn and Skien, Norway

Sandnes and Stavanger, Norway

Gorizia, Italy and Nova Gorica, Slovenia

Gornja Radgona, Slovenia and Bad Radkersburg, Austria

Buda and Pest, Hungary

Tornio, Finland and Haparanda, Sweden

North America

Minneapolis and Saint Paul The most well-known twin cities in North America

Duluth, Minnesota and Superior, Wisconsin, often referred to as the "Twin Ports"

Ottawa, Ontario and Gatineau, Quebec; formerly included Hull, Quebec until Hull (and also other municipalities) merged with Gatineau in 2002.

Halifax Nova Scotia and Dartmouth Nova Scotia. Even though both cities were amalgamated into the Halifax Regional Municipality they're separated by Halifax Harbour and still retain separate identities.

Kitchener and Waterloo, Ontario (occasionally mentioned with nearby Cambridge), popularly abbreviated as "Kitchener-Waterloo" or "K-W"(External Link

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Corte Madera, California and Larkspur, California.(External Link

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Windsor, Ontario and Detroit, Michigan

Kansas City, Kansas and Kansas City, Missouri

Port Huron, Michigan and Sarnia, Ontario

Niagara Falls, Ontario and Niagara Falls, New York

Leominster and Fitchburg, Massachusetts

Dallas, Texas and Fort Worth, Texas

Champaign, Illinois and Urbana, Illinois

South Bend, Indiana and Mishawaka, Indiana

Lewiston and Auburn, Maine, sometimes locally referred to as "LA" or the Twin Cities.

Bossier City and Shreveport, Louisiana.(External Link

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Monroe, Louisiana and West Monroe, Louisiana.(External Link

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Brownsville, Texas and Matamoros, Tamaulipas

Ciudad Juárez, Mexico and El Paso, Texas, U.S. exemplify a chain of twin cities on the Mexico-US border, particularly within the Rio Grande valley.

Laredo, Texas and Nuevo Laredo, Mexico

Rosenberg, Texas and Richmond, Texas

Bluefield, Virginia and Bluefield, West Virginia

Bristol, Virginia and Bristol, Tennessee

Nogales, Arizona and Nogales, Mexico

Calexico, California and Mexicali, Mexico

Texarkana, Texas and Texarkana, Arkansas

Sarasota, Florida and Bradenton, Florida

San Diego, California and Tijuana, Mexico

Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan and Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario

Kalamazoo, Michigan and Battle Creek, Michigan

Gulfport, Mississippi and Biloxi, Mississippi

Little Rock, Arkansas and North Little Rock, Arkansas

Kenosha, Wisconsin and Racine, Wisconsin

Portland, Oregon and Vancouver, Washington

Seattle, Washington and Tacoma, Washington

Bryan, Texas and College Station, Texas

Reno, Nevada and Sparks, Nevada

Waterloo, Iowa and Cedar Falls, Iowa

Omaha, Nebraska and Council Bluffs, Iowa

Lansing, Michigan and East Lansing, Michigan

Sacramento, California and West Sacramento, California

Eugene, Oregon and Springfield, Oregon

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Camden, New Jersey

Bismarck, North Dakota and Mandan, North Dakota, Also known as Sister Cities to local residents.

Pierre, South Dakota and Fort Pierre, South Dakota

Sioux City, Iowa and South Sioux City, Nebraska

Fort Smith, Arkansas and Van Buren, Arkansas

Miami, Florida and Fort Lauderdale, Florida

Palm Beach, Florida and West Palm Beach, Florida

Lakeland, Florida and Winter Haven, Florida

Columbus, Georgia and Phenix City, Alabama

Auburn, Alabama and Opelika, Alabama

Anniston, Alabama and Oxford, Alabama

Benton Harbor, Michigan and St. Joseph, Michigan

Peoria, Illinois and East Peoria, Illinois

Bloomington, Illinois and Normal, Illinois

Lancaster, California and Palmdale, California

Fargo, North Dakota and Moorhead, Minnesota

Midland, Texas and Odessa, Texas

San Francisco, California and Oakland, California

Fort Myers, Florida and Cape Coral, Florida

Denver, Colorado and Aurora, Colorado

Silverthorne, Colorado and Dillon, Colorado

Edwards, Colorado and Avon, Colorado

Albuquerque, New Mexico and Rio Rancho, New Mexico

Delmar, Delaware and Delmar, Maryland

McAllen, Texas and Reynosa, Mexico

Breckenridge, Minnesota and Wahpeton, North Dakota

Grand Forks, North Dakota and East Grand Forks, Minnesota

South America

Rivera, Uruguay and Santana do Livramento, Brazil.

Valparaiso and Viña del Mar, Chile

La Serena and Coquimbo, Chile

Concepción and Talcahuano, Chile

Australia

Albury and Wodonga

Coolangatta and Tweed Heads

Fictional twin cities

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. The two cities were shown as located on opposite sides of a large bay.

Central City and Keystone City, from the current Flash comics, are shown as twin cities; earlier comics presented each city as located in the same space but on different parallel Earths.

Ankh-Morpork, from Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels, is referred to as "the twin cities of proud Ankh and pestilent Morpork", but has been a single political entity in all the books thus far.

Sodom and Gomorrah, historically located in southeastern Israel near the Dead Sea.

Tri-Cities

United States

The Tri-Cities, Washington, consisting of Richland, Pasco, and Kennewick, Washington, along the banks of the Columbia River

The Tri-Cities, Tennessee, Tennessee and Virginia, consisting of the twin cities of Bristol, Tennessee/Bristol, Virginia, Kingsport, and Johnson City

The Research Triangle in North Carolina, consisting of Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill.

The Golden Triangle in Texas, consisting of Beaumont, Port Arthur, and Orange.

The Piedmont Triad in North Carolina, consisting of Greensboro, Winston-Salem (itself a merged city), and High Point.

The Tri-Cities (Michigan) in Michigan, consisting of Bay City, Saginaw, and Midland in the Saginaw Valley

In Illinois and Iowa: three of the four Quad Cities—Moline and Rock Island in Illinois and Davenport in Iowa—were formerly known as the Tri-Cities, before the inclusion of East Moline, Illinois and later, Bettendorf, Iowa

The Capital District in New York, consisting of Albany, Schenectady, and Troy

In Colorado: the towns of Firestone, Frederick, and Dacono (known as the "tri-towns")

In Nebraska: Grand Island, Kearney, and Hastings in the south-central part of the state

Tri-Cities, Virginia, consisting of Petersburg, Colonial Heights, and Hopewell in the Greater Richmond Region

In New Hampshire: Dover, Somersworth, and Rochester in the Seacoast Region

In Florida: the Tampa Bay Area, consisting of Tampa, Clearwater, and St. Petersburg

In Oklahoma: Tuttle, Newcastle, and Blanchard (sometimes with the town of Bridge Creek)

In California: Anaheim, Orange, and Santa Ana, the three oldest cities in Orange County

In California: Yorba Linda, Placentia, and Brea, three cities in northeast Orange County that all meet at Tri-Cities Park.

In California: Chino Hills, Diamond Bar, and Brea, representing San Bernardino, Los Angeles, and Orange counties, respectively

In California: Carlsbad, Oceanside and Vista in northwest San Diego County

In California: Fremont, Newark, and Union City, the three southernmost cities in Alameda County

In California: Santa Barbara, Goleta, and Carpinteria, sometimes referred collectively as the South Coast, being on the a south-facing coast in Santa Barbara County. The term 'tri-cities' is only rarely used as a reference to them, and is considered somewhat old.

The Triple Cities in New York: Binghamton, Endicott and Johnson City

In Pennsylvania: Allentown, Bethlehem, and Easton

Canada

Tri-Cities (British Columbia), consisting of Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam, and Port Moody, located east of Vancouver

Penetenguishene, Ontario, Victoria Harbour, Ontario, Midland, Ontario, and Port McNicoll, Ontario

Ingersoll, Ontario, Tillsonburg, and Woodstock

Tri-Cities (Ontario), consisting of Kitchener, Waterloo, and Guelph.

Asia

Warangal in India, Andhra Pradesh consists of the towns of Warangal, Hanamkonda, and Kazipet.

The second Tricity in North India consists of the towns of Chandigarh, Panchkula and SAS Nagar (Mohali).

Wuhan in China consists of the towns of Wuchang, Hankou, and Hanyang in Hubei Province

South America

Near Iguazu Falls: Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil, Ciudad del Este, Paraguay, and Puerto Iguazu, Argentina.

Europe

The Tricity in Poland consists of Gdańsk, Gdynia and Sopot

Quad Cities

Quad Cities of Davenport and Bettendorf, Iowa, and Rock Island and Moline, Illinois. Also includes a fifth member, East Moline, Illinois.

The Florence-Muscle Shoals Metropolitan Area in Alabama is locally referred to as "the Quad Cities", with Florence and Muscle Shoals dominating smaller Sheffield and Tuscumbia.

Examples of cities formed by merging

London grew from its cores in the City of London and the City of Westminster to encompass many other towns and villages.

Budapest is the amalgamation of Buda, Pest and Óbuda.

Minneapolis. St. Anthony (not to be confused with St. Anthony Village, a modern city which is a suburb of Minneapolis) was a twin city to Minneapolis in the two cities' youth. Minneapolis, the larger of the two, annexed St. Anthony in the late 1800s.

New York City (five boroughs, historically especially between Manhattan and Brooklyn)

Hong Kong (Victoria City and Kowloon)

Thunder Bay, Ontario (Fort William and Port Arthur).

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.

Halifax and Dartmouth (Canada) were forcibly merged in 1996 along with Bedford and Halifax County to create the Halifax Regional Municipality.

Berlin (Berlin and Cölln) in Germany

Wuppertal (Barmen and Elberfeld) in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

Townsville (Townsville and Thuringowa) in Queensland, Australia

Resistance to merging

Bloomington and Normal, Illinois have always rebuffed any merger referendum, and where the original boundary is the appropriately named "Division Street". In England, the cities of Leeds and Bradford are very close, but have strong separate identities and wouldn't see themselves as part of the same entity. Both cities have individual cathedrals and councils, as well as having separate sports teams.

Further Information

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