Sister city
A sister city or a twin town relationship is a form of legal or social agreement between two geographically and politically distinct localities for the purpose of promoting cultural and commercial ties.[1]
"Sister cities", "Twin town", and "Partner city" redirect here. For the films, see Sister Cities (film) and Twin Town. For the phenomenon of cities located close to each other, see Twin cities.While there are early examples of international links between municipalities akin to what are known as sister cities or twin towns today dating back to the 9th century,[2] the modern concept was first established and adopted worldwide during World War II.[3][4]
Origins of the modern concept[edit]
Throughout history, many cities have participated in various cultural exchanges and similar activities that might resemble a sister-city or twin-city relationship, but the first officially documented case of such a relationship was a signed agreement between the leaders of the cities of Toledo, Ohio and Toledo, Spain in 1931.[5] However, the modern concept of town twinning really grew during the Second World War. More specifically, it was inspired by the bombing of Coventry on 14 November 1940, known as the Coventry Blitz.[3] First conceived by the then Mayor of Coventry, Alfred Robert Grindlay,[6] culminating in his renowned telegram to the people of Stalingrad (now Volgograd) in 1942,[7][8][9] the idea emerged as a way of establishing solidarity links between cities in allied countries that went through similar devastating events.[10]
The comradeship between the two cities continued, when again in response to the Battle of Stalingrad, 830 women in Coventry – led by the subsequent Mayor Emily Smith – had their names embroidered on a tablecloth along with the words "Little help is better than a lot of pity" and sent it, along with money (each donated six pence), to the people of Stalingrad.[11][4][12] The tablecloth can now be seen at the Panorama Museum of the Battle of Stalingrad.
The twinning between Coventry and Stalingrad was formalized in 1944 [13] and, after the end of the war, similar links were established to foster friendship and understanding among former foes as an act of peace and reconciliation,[2][14] with new twinnings between Coventry and German cities: Kiel as early as in 1947 and Dresden in 1956.[3] In 1957, Coventry was officially twinned with Belgrade, even though the link actually dates back to 1953 when then Yugoslav Ambassador visited Coventry and offered a gift of timber from his native country for use in the new Civic Theatre, which when finished was named Belgrade Theatre.[15]
The purpose of twinnings was then expanded to encourage trade and tourism[1] or to reflect other links, such as towns sharing the same name or migration links.[16] By the 2000s, town twinning became increasingly used to form strategic international business links among member cities,[17][18] and may include localities of any scope such as villages, prefectures, or countries.
Linguistic reasons[edit]
Relationships between communities can also arise because of shared names; they may be named after one community (as in the case of Córdoba), they may share names (as in the case of Santiago de Compostela), or their names may have a common etymology. These similarities usually arise from sharing the same or related language or having been a colony or previously conquered.
Political significance[edit]
The twinning of towns and cities is sometimes done for political purposes. The Hungarian city Gyöngyös was twinned with the Azerbaijani city of Shusha in 2013, signing the twinning agreement with representatives from the Azerbaijani government; Hungary recognised Shusha as de jure part of Azerbaijan, even though it was controlled at the time and until 2020 by the military forces of Armenia and the unrecognised Republic of Artsakh.[75] An attempt was made in 2003 by Preston city councillors in England to twin with the Palestinian town of Nablus in the name of solidarity.[76]
Turkey bans partnerships with any city in a country that recognizes the Armenian genocide. As a result, when Bulgaria recognized the genocide in 2016, some twin agreements such as Edirne–Haskovo were terminated by Turkey.[77]
China manages sister city relationships through the Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (CPAFCC). In April 2019, CPAFCC president Li Xiaolin said, “Friendship city relations have become one of the important channels to implement the Belt and Road Initiative.”[78] In January 2020, Shanghai canceled its sister city relationship with Prague after Prague's mayor signed a sister city relationship with Taipei.
In November 2020, U.S. senator Marsha Blackburn introduced legislation, the Sister City Transparency Act, to provide federal oversight to mitigate risks of sister city agreements being used for political influence campaigns.[79] In 2024, Indiana banned localities from entering into sister city agreements with six "foreign adversary" countries.[80]
