Twin cities are two neighboring cities or urban areas that are generally comparable in status and size, though not necessarily equal. Although there are no formal criteria, a city and a substantially smaller suburb would not typically qualify, even if they were once separate. Tri-cities and quad cities are similar groups of three or four municipalities, respectively. 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 are separated by a state border, such as Albury (New South Wales) and Wodonga (Victoria) in Australia, on opposite sides of the Murray River. In Pakistan, Islamabad and Rawalpindi are twin cities located in the northwestern Punjab region; Islamabad is administratively part of the Islamabad Capital Territory, and Rawalpindi is in the province of Punjab. Cities on opposite sides of international borders sometimes share enough cultural and historical identity to be seen as twins, such as Haparanda (Sweden) and Tornio (Finland), Leticia (Colombia) and Tabatinga (Brazil), or Valga (Estonia) and Valka (Latvia). In some cases, twin cities eventually merge into a single legal municipality, such as Buda and Pest merging in 1873 into Budapest, Hungary; Brooklyn and New York City being consolidated in 1898; and the three ancient cities of Hankou, Hanyang, and Wuchang joining in 1927 into Wuhan. As a single urban area, twin cities may share an airport whose airport codes include both cities' initials, e.g. DFW (Dallas–Fort Worth), LBA (Leeds–Bradford), MSP (Minneapolis–Saint Paul), RDU (Raleigh and Durham), and CAK (Akron–Canton).
Twin cities
List of international and regional border towns and cities
Africa
Asia
Europe
Notes
North America
South America
List of internal border towns and cities
Africa
Asia
Historic
Europe
Historic
North America
Historic
South America
Oceania
Tri-cities
Quad cities
More than four cities
Unincorporated communities Even unincorporated communities, which are called "cities" in everyday conversation, can also be called "twin cities" if they also have a neighbor that's also unincorporated, or even a proper city.
Examples
United States Michigan:
Dorr, Michigan and Moline, Michigan Hessel, Michigan and Cedarville, Michigan Kinross, Michigan and Kincheloe, Michigan Prudenville, Michigan and Houghton Lake, Michigan Haslett, Michigan and Okemos, Michigan North Carolina:
Rodanthe, North Carolina and Salvo, North Carolina, technically a tri-city area since Waves, North Carolina sits in between those two places.
Cities sharing services here are cities that become "twins" by sharing certain services.
Berkley, Michigan and Royal Oak, Michigan both share the 44th district court building for legal proceedings of police citations even though Berkley has its own police department. Decker, Michigan has its official post office physically located in Hemans, Michigan, both actually unincorporated communities located in Lamotte Township.
Examples of cities formed by amalgamation
Asia China Wuhan in China consists of the towns of Wuchang, Hankou, and Hanyang in Hubei Province. India Delhi: What used to be Old Delhi, New Delhi, and a collection of smaller villages has now grown into the current megalopolis that is seen today, also known as the National Capital Region (NCR) In Telangana, the cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad are merged to form Greater Hyderabad. Japan 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. Philippines Manila, the capital city of the Philippines, was reorganized in 1901 by merging several municipalities, including Tondo, Sampaloc, Paco, Pandacan, Ermita, and Malate, into one city when its borders were extended outside the walled city now known as Intramuros. Iloilo City, in the Visayas, was expanded to absorb the municipalities of Molo, La Paz, Arevalo, and Mandurriao in 1937 as districts. The nearby city of Jaro was later absorbed in 1941. 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). The city of Hà Đông, capital of Hà Tây Province was merged into Hà Nội upon the latter's amalgamation into Hà Nội in August 2008. Since then, Hà Đông became an urban district (quận) of Hà Nội.
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