A Map of All 1,600 Twin Towns & Sister Cities of The UK

Map created by Mark Cooper-Jones; click for interactive versionThe map above shows over 1,600 twin towns (or sister cities) of the UK.

It was created for the following Map Men Video:

More about the concept of sister cites and twin towns.

What they are

• Sister cities (in the U.S.) and twin towns (in the U.K. and much of Europe) mean essentially the same thing.
• It’s when two cities (sometimes towns, counties, or even regions) in different countries form a formal partnership.

Purpose

The idea is to build international connections at the local community level, not just government-to-government. Partnerships usually focus on:

• Cultural exchange (student exchanges, art, sports, festivals)
• Educational cooperation (school partnerships, university research links)
• Economic ties (business delegations, trade promotion, tourism)
• Problem-solving (sharing expertise on city planning, environment, transportation, etc.)
• Friendship & peace-building (especially after wars, many twinnings were started to encourage reconciliation)

Origins

• The concept of twin towns originated in the UK in 1920 with Keighley twinning with Poix-du-Nord in France, marking the world’s first use of the term “twin towns”.
• The practice grew after World War II in Europe, to promote peace and mutual understanding.
• In the U.S., President Eisenhower launched “Sister Cities International” in 1956 to foster “people-to-people diplomacy.”

Examples

• Dull, Scotland twinned with Boring, Oregon and Bland, Australia.
• Paris, France and Rome, Italy are twinned (“only with each other,” as a special symbolic bond).
• Boston, U.S. has sister city ties with Kyoto, Japan and Belfast, Northern Ireland, among others.
• Shanghai, China has dozens of sister cities worldwide, including San Francisco.

And amazingly, Felix Lemke (see comment below) has done the same for 7,000 of Germany’s Twin cities: