<p>For example: Lucca, Tuscany is paired with Colmar, France. Birmingham, UK is paired with Chicago, USA and Leipzig, Germany.</p>
<hr/>**评论：**<br/><br/>darcmosch: <pre><p>Wow! Something I can actually answer. I do a lot of translation work for news articles and documents for this in China, so my scope will be limited to China and some of its own cities and their sister cities.</p>
<p>The sister city program is a way for smaller cities (usually not Tier 1, which was a lot less until a few weeks ago) to get their name out in a country or region by pairing with another city in some way or another, promising better rates and opportunities for business, investors, entrepreneurs, and other notables between the two cities. It helps to foster a bond that will hopefully reap economic benefits sometimes in the near future.</p>
<p>They provide opportunities for students and other citizens with potential to visit schools and universities in their partner to help foster studying abroad and communication that, again, they will hope will foster economic connections and benefits later.</p>
<p>One of the more notable ones is Lodz, Poland (I think) and Chengdu being sister cities, which led to the first direct train route being built between the two cities, allowing for a lot more trade to happen between the region and Chengdu, which being a Tier 2 city, did not get some of the benefits cities like Beijing or Shanghai were privy to. Then, more direct routes from their respective airports opened up and have led to a more direct connection, both metaphorically and physically.</p></pre>: <pre><p>[removed]</p></pre>StoryAboutABridge: <pre><p>Your comment has been removed because it breaks rule 5.</p></pre>Loki-L: <pre><p>It is a way to create greater diplomatic connection on a local level.</p>
<p>It is something that became popular after WWII with the general idea being that people would be much less likely to violently murder each other if they knew the people on the other side as more than faceless enemy.</p>
<p>They created partnerships between towns in different countries and organized cultural exchanges on a local level.</p>
<p>Usually the partner towns are similar in size and have something in common. Sometimes the something can be that both towns have an economy based on the same industry. Sometimes it can be something like the reason Coventry and Dresden became twin cities: They were both bombed a lot during the war.</p></pre>catdoctor: <pre><p>Many years ago I ran the Sister Cities program for a major US city that had 6 sister cities. In that city, at least, the programs were initiated by groups of citizens who wanted to create exchanges, each for different reasons. Most were cultural, but some involved business exchanges. Some groups petitioned the city to make new Sisters in order to make a political statement.<br/>
At that time that I was there, the city put very little money and effort into supporting the exchanges, which were mostly arranged and financed by the citizen groups running them. So each program was only as active as the citizen group.<br/>
The Sisters in other countries had differing levels on interest, too. In some, the Mayor's office was very interesting in the exchanges, spent a lot of money and worked very hard to promoted the connection. In other cities you could barely get anyone from the Mayor's staff to answer the phone.<br/>
In my time at that job I helped to coordinate student exchanges, performances by artists from the Sister Cities, a couple of trade shows. The program was not very active.<br/>
The bottom line is that each program is different, depending on the parties involved. </p></pre>DetroitStalker: <pre><p>I actually had a first hand experience with city twinning. I was part of a cultural artist exchange program between the cities of Detroit and Turin, Italy. The cities are sister cities due to their respective relationships to the auto industry. The project was officially endorsed by the cities mayors and universities. The universities funded our travel. It was an exchange between musicians and visual artists from the two cities. I went to Turin twice and hosted a photographer from Italy here in detroit several times. It was one of the amazing experiences of my life. It lasted a few years and by the time it was over we had put on some concerts and exhibitions in each city, and I made great new friends in Italy who I later revisited and stayed with. </p></pre>Treczoks: <pre><p>Twinning cities is meant as a way of cultural exchange. Our town is twinned with a town in France and one in the UK, and we have trips to the twin cities, student exchange, we celebrate special holidays of the twinned cities country (e.g. we have a Guy Fawkes night here, although without fireworks). I have to admit that I am a member of the twinning committee for the English city, not the French, so I have no idea what they are doing.</p></pre>Flobarooner: <pre><p>Sister cities, as mentioned elsewhere, are about joint economic growth and partnership. I won't delve into that because there's already been a great response on it.</p>
<p>Twinned cities don't always mean anything besides diplomacy, if that. Certainly in the UK it's largely just a hangover from the war, where it was believed that getting two countries heavily involved with one another would make another war less likely. Twin <em>cities</em> will often promote cultural and commercial links and perhaps even international business links, but for the most part twin <em>towns</em> (and villages) don't really have any connections besides in name.</p>
<p>E.g. my hometown of Crawley, population ~100,000 in the UK is twinned with Dorsten, population ~80,000 in Germany. And yet, I'm guessing maybe 1 in 20 people from either town would be able to tell you that.</p>
<p>If you're familiar with how the concept of the EU came about - fostering cultural and financial ties between nations in order to encourage peace and not have another war in Europe - it's basically the same thing at a more local level, although each twinning program is independent and don't necessarily mean anything at all.</p></pre>BlackCoffeeRedBlood: <pre><p>I live in Bundaberg, Queensland, Australia and our sister city is Nanning, China. They send reps here for chinese new year and they give a speech. We send school kids over there for cultural exchange. And some of the Nanning investors are going to invest in some of our local farms, or so we're promised.</p></pre>lord_burlington: <pre><p>Oakville, Ontario is twinned with several different cities. </p>
<p>First, in 1957, they were twinned with Dorval, Quebec. One of Oakville's major streets is named after Dorval.</p>
<p>Then, in 1984, Oakville twinned with Neyagawa, Japan. There is also a street named Neyagawa, which is close to Dorval.</p>
<p>Finally, and most recently, Oakville twinned with Huai'an, China in 2012. There has yet to be a street named after Huai'an. </p>
<p>The incentives towards twinning mostly seem to be economic, though there is a strong social incentive of promoting cooperation and understanding between distant groups of people.</p>
<p>Source 1: I work in Oakville.</p>
<p>Source 2: <a href="http://www.oakville.ca/culturerec/sister-city.html">Here.</a></p></pre>RomansFiveEight: <pre><p>I live in an area that had a lot of German immigration in the 19th century. In fact, you can still find a lot of churches and old buildings with German written into the stone. Some of these communities have German "sister cities" in Germany. I always thought it was a neat way to keep that heritage, even if those families have been in the US for well over a century now. (I, in fact, am a descendant of 19th century German immigrants to this area. Admittedly, I feel far enough removed that I've never been interested in "German Heritage")</p>
<p>Another interesting use. In Missouri, there are two smallish cities that are colloquially called "The Twin Cities". They are Festus, MO and Crystal City, MO. They are actually right next to each other and if it weren't for the sign, you wouldn't know where one ended and the other began. Businesses and homes sort of overlap each. Even the main thoroughfare with small businesses flanking each side goes through both "cities". So you can go to a shop in Festus, and walk next door (attached buildings no less) to a shop in Crystal City. They each have their own mayor, their own emergency services, etc. Although kids in Crystal City go to Festus Schools. </p></pre>OnlyGoodInPractice: <pre><p>Just a clarification to all the other great comments on here:</p>
<p>What you're asking about are sister cities, which is, like <a href="/u/darcmosh">/u/darcmosh</a> explained, when two cities that are far from each other decide to establish friendly economic/diplomatic/educational/whatever ties.</p>
<p>These are different from places that call themselves "twin cities" (like Minneapolis and St. Paul) or "tri-cities" (like Richland, Pasco, and Kennewick, WA), which are just cities that are close to each other, and have just kind of grown to the point where they all run together.</p></pre>LazyLooser: <pre><p>Aviles (a small coastal city in the principate of Asturias, Spain) is the sister city of St Augustine, FL. </p>
<p>This is so because Pedro Menendez (the Gentleman that founded St. Augustine which also happens to be the first permanent settlement in the US) Sailed off from there. </p>
<p>The sisterhood is mostly social and cultural in nature. For example both cities will gift historical pieces to each other. </p>
<p>For example: The cities gifted each other this mural commemorating the sistership <a href="http://l7.alamy.com/zooms/524b579b013b4e9cbcea283c744f40da/pedro-menendez-de-aviles-mural-on-aviles-street-in-the-historic-district-d2b683.jpg" rel="nofollow">http://l7.alamy.com/zooms/524b579b013b4e9cbcea283c744f40da/pedro-menendez-de-aviles-mural-on-aviles-street-in-the-historic-district-d2b683.jpg</a></p>
<p>Aviles for example also gifted St. Augustine a replica of their iconic seven head fountain in front of the Franciscan church </p>
<p>Aviles: <a href="http://www.roadtosantiago.org/journal_2004/images_journal_2004/04.10.22_Fuente_500x350.jpg" rel="nofollow">http://www.roadtosantiago.org/journal_2004/images_journal_2004/04.10.22_Fuente_500x350.jpg</a>
St. Augustine: <a href="http://c8.alamy.com/comp/BJAAER/fuente-de-los-canos-de-san-francisco-fountain-in-st-augustine-florida-BJAAER.jpg" rel="nofollow">http://c8.alamy.com/comp/BJAAER/fuente-de-los-canos-de-san-francisco-fountain-in-st-augustine-florida-BJAAER.jpg</a></p>
<p>In St. Augustine there are numerous references (in the way of street names and landmarks) Not so much in Aviles</p></pre>HokieScott: <pre><p>Some Cities have a lot more.. Roanoke,VA has seven for example.<br/>
Most of the time they are to do a cultural exchange or help in some charity way. </p>
<p>Roanoke's Are:
Florianópolis, Brazil<br/>
Kisumu, Kenya<br/>
Lijiang, Yunnan, China<br/>
Pskov, Russia<br/>
Saint-Lô, France<br/>
Opole, Poland
Wonju, South Korea </p>
<p>Roanoke has a Street they named after Wonju decades ago..<br/>
I think they have a Roanoke street somewhere in Wonju. </p></pre>SquatchHugs: <pre><p>I don't know if they're officially twinned, but Montreal is absolutely the French Canadian Boston. City feels the same, roads feel the same, getting flipped off and cursed out as you get passed while doing 90mph feels the same.</p></pre>SoInsightful: <pre><p>Today I learned about the concept of twin cities.</p>
<p>Today I also learned that the Scottish village <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dull,_Perth_and_Kinross">Dull</a> is twinned with the two towns <em>Boring</em>, USA and <em>Bland</em>, Australia.</p></pre>verbosebro: <pre><p>What are sister cities? Sounds like a bot question, if it was something you were interested in enough to ask this question you would have already searched for the answer online.</p></pre>GooseSteps: <pre><p>I did google it but was interested in what people on reddit had to say about it. Seeing as there are so many responses from people all across the globe and many from people who are themselves involved in their own cities twinning scheme I'd say this was much more worthwhile than just googling it.</p></pre>FromDuskTillBraun: <pre><p>The relationship with Warsaw, Chicago's first sister city, was established in 1960. Polish language is the third largest language spoken in Chicago.....so lots of immigrants from certain part of the world coincides with those types of 'sister cities' connections.</p></pre>CheddarCat87: <pre><p>There's a really small hamlet in Scotland called Dull and it's paired with a place called Boring in the USA. That made me chuckle</p></pre>mythic94: <pre><p>Toledo, Ohio and Toledo, Spain are sister cities. They are actually the oldest formally recognized sister-city relationship in the world.</p></pre>nousernameusername: <pre><p>Paris and Rome are sister cities, because; </p>
<blockquote>
<p>"Only Paris is worthy of Rome; only Rome is worthy of Paris."</p>
</blockquote></pre>H-E-Pennypacker_: <pre><p>Halifax, Nova Scotia is twinned with Hakodate, Japan because both are port cities and both have historical star-shaped forts in the centre of each city.</p></pre>: <pre><p>[removed]</p></pre>Rawrbear89: <pre><p>Your submission has been removed for the following reason(s):</p>
<p>Rule 3. Top-level comments must be written explanations</p>
<hr/>
<p><em>Please refer to our <a href="http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/about/rules" rel="nofollow">detailed rules</a></em>. </p></pre>Tox770: <pre><p>I live in Kansas City and our sister city is Seville, Spain. We even have a part of it built to look like Seville. </p></pre>Neker: <pre><p>Anecdotical anecdote : it landed me my first job abroad just after high school, which incidently was also my first "real" job. One of those experiences a man can only describe as formative.</p>
<p>Also, from a very young age, the opportunity to meet people from other regions, other languages, other cultures ... Even few and far in between, those encounters with my sister cities, my <em>other cities</em>, those mysterious places far far away that were also my hometowns certainly played a role in the elaboration of my weltanshauung.</p></pre>theblaggard: <pre><p>It seems to be a "hey, lets be friends" thing with occasional publicity more than anything else.
The town I grew up in was twinned with Hellovoetsluis in Belgium and Hameln in Germany. I went to Hameln on an exchange trip (brilliant place). </p>
<p>fun story - when I first heard that we were 'twinned' with Hameln (the belgian town came later, i think) I was about 5 and I honestly believed that it was exactly the layout except mirrored (because they drive on the right hand side of the road compared with our left)</p></pre>GeriatricSerialPerv: <pre><p>To add on to what others have said, the US has sister states as well. For example, Colorado and Hawaii. I'm at University in Colorado, and I'm actually shocked by how many Hawaiians we have. We supposedly have a tuition reciprocity program where Coloradoans/Hawaiians can attend Hawaiian/Colorado universities under in-state status.</p>
<p>This shouldn't be confused with other reciprocity programs between Colorado and New Mexico though</p></pre>vba7: <pre><p>Bureaucrats like to travel. And the best way to travel is when someone else pays the bill. Instead of doing actual job and helping their community, bureaucrats find a 'twin' town or city - probably on the other side of the planet, where they can travel to 'observe how things are done' and have 'fruitful discussions' - what mostly translates to bills to be paid by the taxpayer.</p>
<p>Basically officials travel, meet each other, eat good food, do sightseeing and have various banquets - what translates to mostly nothing, since not much real work is done: those are basically vacations sponsored by the taxpayers. </p>
<p>Process of finding a twin town generally happens when the towns have big enough budgets to sponsor such travels, the explanations are mostly nonsensical:
"other towns are doing it" or "having a twin town can be useful in case of a natural disaster" (as if other towns could not help without the partnership), while the underlying cause is human greed.</p></pre>scientificstoner: <pre><p>I don't really understand it, but from living in Chicago, and traveling to Munich, it's sister city. There is a definite cultural understanding each place has for one another. Like doing German festivals in Chicago and vice versa. I am sure it was a unity thing after ww2, or the type of immigrants to a city. But it has deeper roots then that. These cities were matched by population, economy's that could help each other, and to a lesser degree longitudinal placement means similar weather patterns as well. Most small cities/large towns have a sister city.</p></pre>: <pre><p>[removed]</p></pre>jatheist: <pre><p>Follow-up, what about twin cities like Minneapolis-St Paul? </p></pre>algernop3: <pre><p>In theory its to share cultural exchanges with foreign cities after WWII and help in reconciliation.</p>
<p>In reality it means rate payer funded junkets for council members. The more twin cities in desirable or exotic locations, the better...</p></pre>SlapshotTommy: <pre><p>I may not know all the technical or financial reasoning behind it but... Boston is paired with my home city, Belfast (N. Ireland). It is also paired with Nashville and Hefei (China).</p>
<p>As taken from this source about the Boston connection: <a href="http://www.belfastcity.gov.uk/News/News-37859.aspx" rel="nofollow">http://www.belfastcity.gov.uk/News/News-37859.aspx</a> "The agreement is designed to foster stronger economic development, trade and investment, tourism, youth, cultural, faith based exchange and educational linkages between the two cities, and to increase awareness of both cities as being growth cities in the connected health and life sciences, creative industries, tourism, financial services and the knowledge economy sectors."</p>
<p>But closer to my heart, The Boston connection was benefical for us Ice Hockey fans in Belfast. We have since gotten to host 2 amazing tournaments known as the Friendship Four. 4 NCAA Ice Hockey teams from the US come over to us and play 2 games on a Friday for points in the league. On Saturday, they play again (Winner plays Winner) to win the 'Tournament'. This is the first time I am aware of but nearly certain ever... that an Ice Hockey NCAA game was broadcast from outside of the US. Pretty cool for us riotous muckers. </p></pre>kupkapupka: <pre><p>Cleveland OH - Gdańsk Poland, no idea what benefits are there in the deal but it's very cool to see a sign in downtown grandkids pointing to Cleveland.</p></pre>littlestghoust: <pre><p>Part of the City Sister Program where I grew up was a student exchange program between the two participating cities. One summer Japanese students would come to spend two weeks living in America. The next summer, the American students would go to Japan for two weeks. Repeat.</p>
<p>As someone who participated, it makes a huge impact on the students who go. The friendships made, the memories shared, enjoying learning something new was amazing. I still keep up with some of the American and Japanese friends I made during the program, and would highly suggest to anyone in high school.</p>
<p>My city was sister to three other besides the Japanese one. One in Korea, one in Sweden, and one in Austalia. They asked me to help pilot the first ever student exchange to Korea but due to budget constraints could not participate.</p>
<p>The new city I live in has a strong City Sister Program, and recently celebrated 100 years linking with their Japanese counterpart. It's pretty incredible the long lasting bonds this program can create for its citizen generations after its founding.</p></pre>Whysoblunted: <pre><p>When I was in high school, I did the foreign exchange program and went to Germany to visit my small town's "sister city". Pretty cool experience.</p></pre>digitalcamo7: <pre><p>Cincinnati: "Hey, we are also built on seven hills! And, we're named after Cincinnatus your famous General"</p>
<p>Rome: "New phone. Who dis?"</p></pre>wlee1987: <pre><p>It can mean very similar layouts. It can mean it shares partnerships with other cities at local government levels. My city is Adelaide and we have sister cities all over the world. Here is a website with some more information (Video) about it</p>
<p><a href="http://www.cityofadelaide.com.au/city-living/welcome-to-adelaide/sister-cities/" rel="nofollow">http://www.cityofadelaide.com.au/city-living/welcome-to-adelaide/sister-cities/</a></p></pre>: <pre><p>[removed]</p></pre>Rawrbear89: <pre><p>Your submission has been removed for the following reason(s):</p>
<p>Rule 3. Top-level comments must be written explanations</p>
<hr/>
<p><em>Please refer to our <a href="http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/about/rules" rel="nofollow">detailed rules</a></em>. </p></pre>StephanieQ312: <pre><p>I live in Boring Oregon and our sister city is Dull Scotland. I think we're sister cities because our names are quite depressing.</p></pre>benlovesjax: <pre><p>The organization was established by Eisenhower in 1956. Here's the link to their website for further reading. <a href="http://www.sister-cities.org/about-sister-cities-international" rel="nofollow">http://www.sister-cities.org/about-sister-cities-international</a></p></pre>exmoproud: <pre><p>From a North American view point I was always taught that twin/sister cities were close in size, population and had geographical similarities. </p>
<p>It seems in many regions they're different. Like the China comment above. As others have said this all began after WWII to create World ties. </p>
<p>Growing up the town I lived in was Fort Collins and it's sister city is a province of Madrid that lines up perfectly with it's N coordinate (obviously not it's W coordinate). I don't have time to explain coordinates to a 5 year old because I have to go to work. But perhaps I will get back to you ;) </p>
<p>In America I have seen a lot of adjacent sister cities listed typically in Europe or South America sharing one coordinate. </p></pre>Nikotiiniko: <pre><p>Hmm my town, Kotka, Finland has a few. </p>
<pre><code>Taizhou, Jiangsu, China (since 2001)
Glostrup, Denmark (since 1947)
Tallinn, Estonia (since 1955)
Greifswald, Germany (since 1959)
Lübeck, Germany (since 1969)
Klaipėda, Lithuania (since 1994)
Fredrikstad, Norway (since 1950)
Gdynia, Poland (since 1961)
Kronstadt, Russia (since 1993)
Landskrona, Sweden (since 1940)
</code></pre>
<p>Tallinn and Lübeck are pretty cool. Others I haven't heard of. Not that they would've heard of Kotka either. </p></pre>activistaxis559: <pre><p>I live in Waterloo, IL (about 30 min. south of St. Louis) and we are twinned with a German town named Porta Westfalica. The reason for the twinning is due to the large number of immigrants that came from villages that later made up the town. We have student exchange programs through our high school's German club where a student is sent there as long as they can pass a lingual test and write an essay. We also have a Porta Westfalica festival, where we celebrate Waterloo's German heritage. It's like a small version of Oktoberfest. Our town has a great German band! </p></pre>Toastedsars: <pre><p>My Grandpa was mayor of Ogden Utah back in the day, he helped revive Ogden's relationship with their sister city Hof Germany. What does it mean to be a sister city? It means you celebrate differences! Now every year since 1986 we have the Winter Hof Carnival in Ogden. This festival is a celebration of Hof's culture and people. There's music, dancing, singing, beer drinking, and you can buy all the trinkets and whats its you want. I always enjoy it when I am able to go, and I'm glad that it is kept alive.</p></pre>Fezztraceur: <pre><p>We're twinned with Chicago? Bullshit! Birmingham's pizza game is weak.</p></pre>Sammy123476: <pre><p>What it means can vary pretty heavily. I grew up in a small railroad/rust city in the foothills of Pennsylvania. Up on a ridge overlooking the city is a pagoda, bright red and lit up at night.
They have a sister city in Japan I guess, but I mostly just know it as where M. Night Shyamalan shot what I can only assume was a Fire Temple scene for The Last Airbender. My Dad wanted to try out as an extra because he loved the tv series.</p></pre>Brunsy89: <pre><p>The twin cities in Minnesota (St. Paul and Minneapolis) are twins, because of their proximity. There are a variety of places you can stand in the twin cities and view both skylines. The University of Minnesota in Minneapolis is always famous for its twin studies, where identical and fraternal twins are studied for their individual differences. This last bit is unrelated to the question, but is a fun bit of trivia.</p></pre>antonylockhart: <pre><p>Adding nothing to the explanation but when I was younger I used to think a twinned city was basically identical in layout, just in another country. I sincerely thought they were literal twin cities </p></pre>Hamsternoir: <pre><p>I come from a small rural town in the South West of England, we're twinned with a similar town in France. Due to the small sizes of both towns residents have got to know each other well through regular exchange visits and school kids staying with families for a couple of weeks in the summer.</p>
<p>It's really just a way of building ties and having something in common. </p></pre>sprungy: <pre><p>TIL that Toronto has sister cities. I volunteer with our tourism department and had never heard of this until now</p>
<p>"Toronto has entered into "friendship" agreements with five cities: Ho Chi Minh City, Kiev, Warsaw, Quito in Ecuador, and Sagamihara in Japan. "</p>
<p><a href="http://www.blogto.com/city/2015/02/get_to_know_the_sister_cities_of_toronto/" rel="nofollow">http://www.blogto.com/city/2015/02/get_to_know_the_sister_cities_of_toronto/</a></p></pre>MerryMisanthrope: <pre><p>I hope this doesn't get removed for my lack of expertise. </p>
<p>I live in New Braunfels, Texas. We are sistered with Braunfels, Germany, because our city was founded by Prince Solms of Braunfels. He was a magnificent failure, but someone else stepped up and made it work. </p>
<p>Anyway, some sister cities harken back to their founding. </p></pre>Cr4nkY4nk3r: <pre><p>My daughter will be going on a cultural exchange program to our hometown's sister city, Muroran Japan, later this month. The group is taking gifts and plaques for residents and officials within the city, and will be staying with families there who have volunteered to host them.</p>
<p>Muroran has sent delegations here as well.</p></pre>RadiantSun: <pre><p>I'm from Pakistan, and we have "twin cities", Islamabad and Rawalpindi!</p>
<p>In our case, the reason they are "twinned" is because they initially started out somewhat distant from one another but due to expansion, they've essentially begun to overlap and sidle closer to one another, to the point where they are inseparably linked in almost every way. Business and commerce, social life, etc, people from Islamabad and 'pindi are essentially grouped together. </p>
<p>I cannot speak for other twin cities though. </p></pre>Rhebala: <pre><p>I'm in New England, and I've noticed that there are often twin cities (towns, really) that were built up around the mills. There will be one town with a a large mill, and another, more affluent town across the river. Workers lived in the mill town, and bosses lived in the next town over.</p></pre>bvencel: <pre><p>In the communist era, in Romania sister cities were an attempt to prevent the government from simply eliminating small villages as part of ethnic cleansing or business interest (<a href="http://www.zmescience.com/other/feature-post/geamana-village-romania-toxic/" rel="nofollow">http://www.zmescience.com/other/feature-post/geamana-village-romania-toxic/</a>). It was less likely that your village will be evacuated and flooded by a lake, if it had sister cities.
This info is only anecdotal.</p></pre>drewskeet85: <pre><p>My city is paired with Takasaki, Japan, they also have a very large amount of Japanese manufacturing corporations built around our industrial park. They always said it was in order to reduce the chance of hostile feelings or actions after the atomic bombs and Pearl harbor attacks.</p></pre>AncestralSpirit: <pre><p>So after reading all the replies, it seems to me with age of internet and communication, this concept is non-existent.</p>
<p>How would a small city in the middle of nowhere, have any relationship with another city on the other side of the planet, also in the middle of nowhere?</p></pre>bullard: <pre><p>My town Ipswich is paired with a town in France called Arras.</p>
<p>The reason for this is that it's where the soldiers from our town were stationed during the war. I guess the partnership is implemented to show some kind comradery and shows a personal side to the war.</p></pre>xprtskllz: <pre><p>Are sister cities selected primarily or at least at some level on the cities being similar? (Geographically as in both being coastal, or similarity of population, or amount of urbanization, etc) or are similar cities being sister cities just a coincidence?</p></pre>harmar21: <pre><p>I actually live in a Tri-City.</p>
<p>Kitchener, Waterloo, Cambridge, but most people ignore Cambridge.</p>
<p>Kitchener and Waterloo are so inter-twinned that is is referred to as KW (Kitchener-Waterloo)</p>
<p>It is also part of a greater municipality called the Region of Waterloo, which includes the 3 cities mentioned above, and a few townships. Quite a few services are shared to save money, such as fire, garbage collection, police, fire, etc.</p></pre>123hig: <pre><p>The unincorporated city of Dickens, California, home of <em>Our Gang</em> star Hominy Jenkins had a really hard time finding a sister city. </p>
<p>Dickens was deemed too violent, too polluted, and too black by Juarez, Chernobyl, and Kinshasa respectively.</p></pre>any_rock: <pre><p>Boring, Oregon paired with Dull, Scotland though never formally became sister cities. According to wiki, the town of Bland, Australia also joined with them. Here in Oregon, we celebrate Boring & Dull Day every year in August.</p></pre>LV426_DISTRESS_CALL: <pre><p>Its also a means of defining identity. We have a hard time understanding an identity without comparison and contrast. We explain why we like or dislike things by comparing it to something our audience is likely to know.</p></pre>adognamedpenguin: <pre><p>this is great. as a small clothing manufacturer, with limited local opportunities for creating something locally, how can i find information about countries and cities that may offer an incentive or tax break? thanks!</p></pre>losimagic: <pre><p>When I was a kid, I thought it meant that someone in that town had sent a letter to someone in the other town, and the post office noticed, so they 'twinned' them. I didn't think that through very logically :(</p></pre>nolo_me: <pre><p>My hometown is twinned with a town in France and a town in Germany and named roads after them (Boulevard de Villenave d'Ornon, Langenau Strasse). In possibly the only smart decision they've ever made they're roads with no addresses on.</p></pre>AutofansYannick: <pre><p>I'm from Belgium and we have Oostende that's sisters with Monaco. They have many streets and place's with names from one of them. Eg: Monaco has an Avenue D'Ostende.
I wonder Who did it for Who</p></pre>_AlreadyTaken_: <pre><p>Some cities have their sibling city inside of their borders. It never develops into a full city and it is a parasite living off of the other city's utilities. This is called a "city in fetu".</p></pre>420BigCatNip69: <pre><p>My hometown was sister cities with a city called Guadalupe in Mexico. One of the city council visits had to be canceled because it was too dangerous to travel there in the mid-2000s.</p></pre>buchsy45: <pre><p>Calgary, Alberta, and Denver, Colorado. I'm from Calgary and have only ever driven through Colorado before, but I've heard from many people that they share a ton of similarities. </p></pre>heard_enough_crap: <pre><p>its way for elected officials to get free 'research' and 'business' trips paid for to that city</p></pre>: <pre><p>[removed]</p></pre>Rawrbear89: <pre><p>Your submission has been removed for the following reason(s):</p>
<p>Rule 3. Top-level comments must be written explanations</p>
<hr/>
<p><em>Please refer to our <a href="http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/about/rules" rel="nofollow">detailed rules</a></em>. </p></pre>Mennerheim: <pre><p>Fukuoka Japan is paired with Oakland California, it was on a big metal plaque when I was traveling over there. Thought that was unusual. I bet oaklanders have no idea...</p></pre>UglyOutsideAnInside: <pre><p>Santa Barbara California and Puerto Vallarta Mexico are sister cities; I believe both have statues/fountains of dolphins on their promenades.</p>
<p>Both beautiful locations.</p></pre>hmm_ohh: <pre><p>I always wondered about Bremen Circle Pune, named after german city .I later found out about the concept of sister city , but never understood the rationale until now</p></pre>NotDaveFranco: <pre><p>This is awesome. Something I had no idea existed. Is there a way to get involved, at a local level, with these twinned cities? Are there organizations to contact? </p></pre>zaqxswcde156: <pre><p>Here in the UK, virtually every town and village is twinned with at least one or more places in Europe (usually). Supposedly to do with building ties are WW2. </p></pre>Lunarius0: <pre><p>It's a pretty common thing for towns of size in my area (southern IL); I think there are four or five around here with sister cities in Japan and Italy.</p></pre>BlitzBop44: <pre><p>I live in Hamilton Ontario and we have 7 twin cities, two in Japan two in Italy, Mexico, China and 2 in the USA. One is in Quebec for some reason.</p></pre>Jordanbvb09: <pre><p>My town (Biggleswade, UK) is twinned with Erlensee, Germany. It's pretty cool! I'd love to see the German sign saying 'twinned with Biggleswade :D</p></pre>RazorRex: <pre><p>My hometown of Terre Haute, IN has a very strong twin relationship with Tajini, Japan. We send people over there all the time and vice Versa. </p></pre>DankZXRwoolies: <pre><p>Wow I've lived in Charleston, SC for two years and never had any idea why we have a "Spoleto" festival. Well, our twin city is Spoleto, Italy.</p></pre>caseydeaton: <pre><p>Reminds me of Parks and Rec where their town is a sister city with some city in Spain. Sorry I can't remember the names, it's early for me lol</p></pre>AbusedToaster420: <pre><p>Halifax is twinned with Boston, we send them a Christmas tree every year because they sent a lot of aid when the Halifax explosion happened. </p></pre>Girth-Wind-Fire: <pre><p>So, it's like when a younger, less known pornstar stars in a film with a more mature, well established pornstar In order to promote her.</p></pre>: <pre><p>[removed]</p></pre>Teekno: <pre><p>Your comment has been removed for violating Rule #3:</p>
<p><strong>Top-level comments must be written explanations</strong></p>
<p>Make sure these comments are answering and explaining the question asked in the post.</p>
<p><em>Replies directly to OP must be written explanations or relevant follow-up questions. They may not be jokes, anecdotes, etc. Short or succinct answers do not qualify as explanations, even if factually correct. Links to outside sources are accepted and encouraged, provided they are accompanied by an original explanation (not simply quoted text) or summation.</em></p>
<p><em>Exceptions: links to relevant previous ELI5 posts or highly relevant other subreddits may be permitted</em></p></pre>CordeliaGrace: <pre><p>Buffalo NY has 15 sister cities! I knew Lille France, but also Kanazawa, Japan, and Dortmund, Germany, to name a couple. Huh! TIL. </p></pre>grinningreaper: <pre><p>It is BS that your local government can discuss without political divides getting in the way or having to actually do anything.</p></pre>7even2wenty: <pre><p>Kansas City, Missouri and Seville, Spain are sister cities. KC has a 1/2 size replica tower of Seville's famous Torre Giralda. </p></pre>swellbaker: <pre><p>Love how you didn't include my local town, Abingdon on that twinning! Have no idea why Lucca is twinned with us mind you...</p></pre>ZombieAlpacaLips: <pre><p>People in city government get to take free tourist trips to other places to "foster communication" and "gather ideas".</p>
<p><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/33j9q2/eli5_what_are_sister_cities_do_they_actually_have/" rel="nofollow">Here's an earlier ELI5 on this subject.</a></p></pre>: <pre><p>[removed]</p></pre>Rawrbear89: <pre><p>Your submission has been removed for the following reason(s):</p>
<p>Rule 3. Top-level comments must be written explanations</p>
<hr/>
<p><em>Please refer to our <a href="http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/about/rules" rel="nofollow">detailed rules</a></em>. </p></pre>sherryunderwood1: <pre><p>It doesn't mean shit. Some have over 20 sister cities, and I bet most people don't even know about any of them.</p></pre>: <pre><p>[removed]</p></pre>EmergencyChimp: <pre><p>Can anyone explain why some places are twinned with 2 other cities? It's like they forgot what twin means. </p></pre>crazyzingers: <pre><p>For out town it's because they sit right on the border of two states so they had to have different names</p></pre>Alladean: <pre><p>New Orleans, Louisiana and Caracas, Venezuela. Apparently, the whole state is paired with Nice, France.</p></pre>Kuja27: <pre><p>I used to live in madison New Jersey, apparently were sister cities with Marigliano Italy. how fancy. </p></pre>quinnybomb: <pre><p>My town is twinned with one in Japan. It's basically a way to encourage a foreign exchange program.</p></pre>Gymrat1010: <pre><p>I'm so upset you didn't choose to say Lucca is twinned with Abingdon, UK as that's my hometown!</p></pre>Bertensgrad: <pre><p>Mostly sorta like diplomatic and marketing penpals. However sometimes it can get more serious.</p></pre>HzyBrained: <pre><p>Yeah, I had always wondered the same. Had this come up between Portland, OR and Portland, ME</p></pre>kantarkris: <pre><p>There is a Hell, Wisconsin who should we pair with them?</p></pre>Renwuad: <pre><p>It's just a way for predominantly Asian countries to get better discounts while in the western world.</p></pre>lrviator: <pre><p>Haven't you seen that parks and rec episode?</p></pre>Clark-Kent: <pre><p>Why are we paired with Chicago and Leipzig?</p></pre>fastrthnu: <pre><p>Who the hell thinks eachother is a single word? It's "each other".</p></pre>JakeTheTurk: <pre><p>Anyone from Twin Cities MN?</p></pre>Suhn-Sol-Jashin: <pre><p>No love for the Twin Cities?</p></pre>StraightCashHomie504: <pre><p>New Orleans here. Is there a way to find out who my sister city might be? </p></pre>SSKBJustice: <pre><p>Hey wait I thought Princeton, New Jersey was Colmar's sister city?</p></pre>
