Twin cities: Information from Answers.com

This article is about cities geographically close together. For other uses, see twin city.

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1 Examples
2 Fictional twin cities
3 Tri-Cities
4 Quad Cities
5 Examples of cities formed by amalgamation
6 See also

Twin cities are a special case of two cities or urban centres which are founded 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 do not 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 as 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. 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.

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

A remarkable example of twin cities: Plaza Internacional of the Frontera de la Paz. On the left, Santana do Livramento (Brazil); on the right, Rivera (Uruguay).

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Asia

Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar in Gujarat State of India are looked upon as merging into a new twin city in-the-process.
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
Dhaka and Gazipur, Bangladesh
Hyderabad and Secunderabad, India
Vijayawada and Guntur, India
Ernakulam and Kochi, India
Bhubaneswar and Cuttack, India
Hubli and Dharwad, India
Mumbai, Navi Mumbai and Thane, India
Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad, India
Kolkata and Howrah, India
Hatyai and Songkhla, Thailand
Chiang Mai and Lamphun, Thailand
Ramallah and al-Bireh, in the West Bank
Taipei and Keelung, Taiwan
Taoyuan and Jhongli, Taiwan
Seoul and Incheon, South Korea
Tirunelveli and Palayamkottai, India
Tel Aviv and Jaffa, Israel

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"^{[citation needed]}
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.

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: 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. Also in California, Oceanside, Vista, and Carlsbad are sometimes referred to as tri-cities.
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 in the north-eastern section of Metro Vancouver.
Penetanguishene, Victoria Harbour, Midland, and Port McNicoll, Ontario.^{[citation needed]}
Ingersoll, Tillsonburg and Woodstock, Ontario.
Kitchener, Waterloo and Cambridge, Ontario.
Tri-Towns, a historic designation for the towns of Haileybury, New Liskeard and Cobalt, which is no longer in widespread use since the amalgamation of Haileybury and New Liskeard into the city of Temiskaming Shores in 2004.

Mexico

Torreon, Coahuila, Gomez Palacio and Lerdo, Durango.
Monterrey, Nuevo Leon. and San Nicolas de los Garza, Nuevo Leon.
Monterrey, Nuevo Leon. and San Pedro Garza Garcia, Nuevo Leon.
Monterrey, Nuevo Leon. and Guadalupe, Nuevo Leon.
Monterrey, Nuevo Leon. and Escobedo, Nuevo Leon.
Monterrey, Nuevo Leon. and Santa Catarina, Nuevo Leon.
Saltillo, Coahuila. and Ramos Arizpe, Coahuila.
Piedras Negras, Coahuila. and Eagle Pass, Texas.
Cd. Acuna, Coahuila. and Del Rio, Texas.

Asia

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

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. It might also include a fifth member, East Moline, Illinois.
The Florence-Muscle Shoals Metropolitan Area in Alabama is locally referred to as "the Quad Cities", with Florence, Muscle Shoals, Sheffield, and Tuscumbia. Formerly, when Muscle Shoals was a mere village, this region was known a "Tri-Cities", Alabama. Actually, they are all incorporated as towns except for Florence.
The Quad Cities of Minnesota consist of Virginia, Eveleth, Gilbert, and Mountain Iron.
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

Examples of cities formed by amalgamation

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)
Toronto, Ontario, formed by an amalgamation of the old City of Toronto with East York, Etobicoke, North York, Scarborough and York - which were themselves products of earlier amalgamations.
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
Cleveland (Cleveland and Ohio City) in Ohio
Wuppertal (Barmen and Elberfeld) in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
Townsville (Townsville and Thuringowa) in Queensland, Australia
Saguenay, Quebec (Chicoutimi, Jonquière, et al.)
What is now the city of Winston-Salem in North Carolina was once two separate towns called Winston and Salem.
Pittsburgh annexed Allegheny City, which is now the quarter of the city that lies north of the Allegheny and Ohio rivers.
Wuhan in China consists of the towns of Wuchang, Hankou, and Hanyang in Hubei Province
Seattle annexed the neighboring towns of West Seattle and Ballard.

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Twin cities

Contents

Examples

Asia

Europe

North America

South America

Australia

Africa

Fictional twin cities

Tri-Cities

United States

Canada

Mexico

Asia

South America

Europe

Quad Cities

Examples of cities formed by amalgamation

See also