This article is about partnerships between towns distant from each other. See Twin cities for the different concept of physically neighboring cities
Town-Twinning was developed 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. The idea is to twin towns and cities with similar demographic make-up in different countries. Although still more popular in Europe than elsewhere, the idea has now spread to other continents; in North America the phrase Sister Cities is used.
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 1300 projects.
The following list is a starting point for a complete list of twinned towns. Information may not be complete even for the towns that are listed. Where known, date of formation of the twinning agreement is included in parentheses. When adding a new twinning to the list, please add it under both of the countries/towns involved.
- Arlon - Market Drayton, UK
- Diksmuide - Ellesmere, UK
- Liège - Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxemburg
also try searching for "jumelage" in the French Wikipedia
- Annonay - Chelmsford, UK
- Béziers - Stockport, UK (1972)
- Bourgoin Jallieu - Luton, UK
- Chatenay-Malabry - Wellington (Telford), UK
- Combes-la-Ville - Oswestry, UK
- Die - Wirksworth, UK
- Eaubonne - Matlock, UK
- Fismes - Wem, UK
- Giat - Baschurch, UK
- La Ferte Mace - Ludlow, UK
- Lyon - Birmingham, UK
- Maromme - Oadby and Wigston, UK
- Machecoul - Shifnal, UK
- Meriadec - Redruth, UK
- Montebeliard - Ludwigsburg, Germany
- Neuschatel - Whitchurch, UK
- Nice - Cape Town, South Africa; Edinburgh, UK; Houston, Texas, USA; Kamakura-shi, Japan; Laval, Canada; Miami, Florida, USA; Netanya, Israel; Nuremberg, Germany; Saint Petersburg, Russia; Yalta, Ukraine
- Pezenas - Market Drayton, UK
- Plumergat - Redruth, UK
- Poitiers - Northampton, UK
- Rennes - Exeter, UK
- St Marcel - Bishop's Castle, UK
- Strasbourg - Leicester, UK
- Thiers - Bridgnorth, UK
also try searching for "Partnerstädte" in the German Wikipedia
- Backnang - Chelmsford, UK
- Bad Homburg - Exeter, UK
- Bergisch Gladbach - Luton, UK
- Berlin-Spandau - Nauen, Germany (September 28, 1988; at the time in the DDR)
- Bochum - Donezk, Ukraine (1987); Nordhausen, Germany (1990); Oviedo, Spain (1980); Sheffield, UK (1950); Xuzhou, China (1994)
- Bonn - Oxford, UK (1947)
- Bottrop - Blackpool, UK
- Bremen - Gdansk, Poland (April 12, 1976)
- Cologne - Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxemburg
- Dresden - Coventry, UK
- Duisburg - Wuhan, China (April 25, 1986)
- Düsseldorf - Reading, UK (First link: 1947; Official twinning: 1975)
- Eisenhüttenstadt - Saarlouis, Germany
- Fellbach - Pécs, Hungary (1986)
- Frankfurt - Birmingham, UK
- Hamburg - St. Petersburg, Russia (1957)
- Hannover - Bristol, UK
- Heidelberg - Cambridge, UK
- Heilbronn, Stockport, UK (1982)
- Krefeld - Leicester, UK
- Langenhagen - Southwark, UK
- Ludwigsburg - Montebeliard, France (1951)
- Marburg - Northampton, UK
- Nauen - Berlin-Spandau, Germany
- Norderstedt - Oadby and Wigston, UK
- Nordhausen - Bochum, Germany
- Nuremberg - Glasgow, UK; Nice, France
- Passau - Hackensack, New Jersey, USA (1952)
- Saarlouis - Eisenhüttenstadt, Germany (October 8, 1982; at the time in the DDR)
- Schrobenhausen - Bridgnorth, UK
- Sindelfingen - Dronfield, UK
- Spandau - Luton, UK
- Westerburg - Daventry, UK
- Wolfsburg - Luton, UK
- Wuppertal - Beer Sheva, Israel (September 29, 1977)
- Beer Sheva - Wuppertal, Germany
- Netanya - Nice, France
- Milan - Birmingham, UK
- San Pietro in Cariano - Ludlow, UK
- Terracina - Exeter, UK
- Turin - Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxemburg
- Kamakura-shi - Nice, France
- Yuasa - Kerikeri, New Zealand
- Esch-sur-Alzette - Cologne, Germany; Liège, Belgium; Rotterdam, The Netherlands; Turin, Italy
- Masaya - Leicester, UK
- San Francisco Libre - Reading (1994)
- Rostov on Don - Glasgow, UK
- St. Petersburg - Nice, France; Hamburg, Germany
- Yaroslavl - Exeter, UK
- Cape Town - Nice, France
- Johannesburg - Birmingham, UK
- Eskilstuna - Luton, UK
- Rotterdam - Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxemburg
- Zutphen - Shrewsbury, UK
(Arranged by ceremonial county)
- Luton - Bergisch Gladbach, Germany; Bourgoin Jallieu, France; Eskilstuna, Sweden; Spandau, Germany; Wolfsburg, Germany
- Reading - Düsseldorf, Germany (First link: 1947; Official twinning: 1975); Clonmel, Republic of Ireland (1994); San Francisco Libre, Nicaragua (1994); Speightstown, Barbados (January 21, 2003)
- Cambridge - Heidelberg, Germany (1957); Szeged, Hungary (1987)
- Dronfield - Sindelfingen, Germany
- Matlock - Eaubonne, France
- Wirksworth - Die, France
- Exeter - Bad Homburg, Germany; Rennes, France; Terracina, Italy; Yaroslavl, Russia
- Chelmsford - Annonay, France; Backnang, Germany
- Leicester - Chongqing, China; Krefeld, Germany; Masaya, Nicaragua; Rajkot, India; Strasbourg, France
- Oadby and Wigston - Maromme, France; Norderstedt, Germany
- Southwark - Langenhagen, Germany
- Daventry - Westerburg, Germany
- Kettering - Kettering, Ohio, USA
- Northampton - Marburg, Germany; Poitiers, France
- Baschurch - Giat, France
- Bishop's Castle - St Marcel, France (Easter 2004)
- Bridgnorth - Schrobenhausen, Germany; Thiers, France
- Ellesmere - Diksmuide, Belgium
- Ludlow - La Ferte Mace, France; San Pietro in Cariano, Italy
- Market Drayton - Arlon, Belgium; Pezenas, France
- Oswestry - Combes-la-Ville, France
- Shifnal - Machecoul, France
- Shrewsbury - Zutphen, The Netherlands
- Wellington (Telford) - Chatenay-Malabry, France
- Wem - Fismes, France
- Whitchurch - Neuschatel, France
- Wincanton - Ankh-Morpork, Discworld (Somewhat controversially the only town to have a fictional twin. Ankh-Morpork was created by author Terry Pratchett in his Discworld series of books.)
- Birmingham - Chicago, USA; Frankfurt, Germany; Johannesburg, South Africa; Lyon, France; Milan, Italy
- Coventry - Dresden, Germany
- Chicago - Birmingham, UK
- Hackensack, New Jersey - Passau, Germany
- Houston, Texas - Nice, France
- Kettering, Ohio - Kettering, UK
- Miami, Florida - Nice, France