Twinning Cities

Sometimes referred to as "sister cities" to mean cities that are neither very close together, nor from two different cultures and officially twinned, but rather two cities with similar cultures and/or historical background.

Town twinning is a concept whereby towns or cities in geographically and politically distinct areas are paired, with the goal of fostering human contact and cultural links. In Europe, such pairs of towns are known as twin towns, friendship towns or partner towns.

The twinning concept can be likened to a scaled up version of a "pen pal" scheme, in which the "pals" are whole towns or cities. In practice, the twinning arrangements often lead to student exchange programs, as well as economic and cultural collaborations.

The earliest form of town twinning in Europe was between the German city of Paderborn and the French city of Le Mans in 1836, although this was not officially established as a modern town twinning arrangement until 1967.

Coventry, United Kingdom was the first ever city to "twin" with another city, twinning with Stalingrad in the Soviet Union and hence began the modern practice of twinning.

The practice was continued in Europe after the Second World War as a way to bring European people into a closer understanding of each other and to promote cross-border projects of mutual benefit. For example, Coventry twinned with Dresden as an act of peace and reconciliation, both cities having been heavily bombed during the war. Each twin city country is represented in a specific ward of the city and in each ward has a peace garden dedicated to that twin city. Another early example of town twinning dates back to 1947 when Bristol Corporation now known as Bristol City Council sent five 'leading citizens' on a goodwill mission to Hanover.

While still more popular as a concept in Europe than elsewhere, the idea has now spread to other continents.

Within Europe, town twinning is now supported by the European Union. The support scheme was established in 1989. In 2003 an annual budget of about 12 million euros was allocated to about 1,300 projects. The Council of European Municipalities and Regions also works closely with the Commission (DG Education and Culture) to promote modern, high quality twinning initiatives and exchanges that involve all sections of the community.

E.U. sister cities are a separate affiliation from the international sister cities association.

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