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This article is about the former meaning; for the linking of distant cities see sister cities ( US) and twin towns ( Europe)
Perhaps the most famous example in the United States is the combination of Minneapolis, Minnesota and Saint Paul, Minnesota (although the metropolitan area of the Twin Cities actually includes seven counties and dozens of cities, Minneapolis and Saint Paul form the urban, cultural and economic core of the area). (See Minneapolis-St. Paul.)
Twin cities are often separated by a river — cities without this physical barrier more often become a single entity, as with the growth of London from what is now called the City of London into its surroundings to encompass the City of Westminster and other towns.
Twin cities often share an airportFor the wireless networking standard, see AirPort networking; for the movie, see Airport (movie An airport is a designated location for aircraft to take off and land. While smaller airports—often called aerodromes, airfields or landing strips—might includ, into whose call sign are integrated the initials of both cities; DFW ( DallasDallas redirects here. For other uses see Dallas (disambiguation Dallas is one of the ten largest cities in the United States and the heart of the largest metropolitan area in Texas. It is the county seat of Dallas County and small portions of the city al- Fort WorthFort Worth is the sixth-largest city in the state of Texas, located about 30 miles west of Dallas, Texas and forming part of the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 534,694. It is the county seat of Tarra) might be the most famous example.
Some twin cities form on opposite sides of natural or governmental boundaries as conduits for trade between the two sides. For instance, AlburyAlbury is a small city located on the northern side of the Murray River, in New South Wales. It is approximately 300 kilometres from Melbourne, Victoria, considerably closer than Sydney, which is over 550 kilometres away. Of all the twin towns on the Murr and WodongaWodonga is a small city on the Victorian side of the border with New South Wales, 300 kilometres north-east of Melbourne, Australia. It is covered by the municipality Rural City of Wodonga. Its population is approximately 30,000 people. Founded as a custo in south-eastern AustraliaAustralia is the sixth-largest country in the world (geographically), the only one to occupy an entire continent, and the largest in the region of Australasia. Australia includes the island of Tasmania, which is an Australian State. Its neighbouring count are on the state border between New South WalesNew South Wales NSW is Australia's most populous and oldest state, located in the southeast, north of Victoria. It was founded in 1788 and originally comprised much of the Australian mainland. During the 19th century large areas were successively separate and Victoria), and formed as customs posts when the two states were independent colonies. The border between the United States and Mexico is significant in this respect because there is a chain of twin cities, particularly around the Rio Grande valley. Others began as distinct cities, but growth caused them to merge into each other and assume a single identity; an example of this is Budapest.
Note that not all geographically close cities are combined in this way. In the United Kingdom, for example, the cities of Leeds and Bradford are very close, but have strong separate identities and would not see themselves as part of the same entity.
Examples of twin cities:
One unusual case — Lloydminster, Alberta/Saskatchewan in Canada — may be considered a "twin city", but is in fact incorporated as a single city straddling a provincial border and administered jointly by both provinces.
Compare with the term " tri cities", which refers to three cities in a similar situation. In southeast Washington State, for example, Richland, Kennewick, and Pasco are widely known as The Tri-Cities; Pasco is separated from the other two cities by the Columbia River. "Tri-Cities" also refers to an area of Upper East Tennessee and Southwest Virginia.
Also compare to quad cities, which naturally refers to a similar group of four towns. Perhaps the most famous of these are the towns of Davenport, Iowa, Bettendorf, Iowa, Rock Island, Illinois, and Moline, Illinois, in the United States. East Moline, Illinois was later added to the group, and the "quad cities" term now refers to all five collectively. Of these, the Iowa and Illinois towns are separated by the Mississippi River.
The term for a collection of many cities into a single socioeconomic area is " megalopolis", or " metropolitan area".