- published: 06 Aug 2012
- views: 8878903
Twin cities are a special case of two cities or urban centres that are founded in close geographic proximity and then grow into each other over time, losing most of their mutual buffer zone. In the United States, "the Twin Cities" usually refers to the Minneapolis-Saint Paul metropolitan area in Minnesota.
There are no precise criteria for twin-cityhood, but to be considered twin cities, the cities involved have to have a similar administrative status and somewhat comparable sizes; a suburb of a much larger population center is usually not considered to form a twin city with it. For example, South San Francisco (population about 65,000) is not considered a twin city with San Francisco (population about 850,000). However, cities considered twinned by proximity do not necessarily match demographically, economically, or politically.
In many historical cases, cities that grew into each other's space lost their individual identities, and the border or barrier originally separating them became almost irrelevant. An 1873 case of twin cities merging to become a united city is Budapest in Hungary, which began as two settlements (Buda and Pest) facing each other across the Danube at a strategic fording place along a trade route. In China, the three ancient cities of Hankou, Hanyang, and Wuchang, separated by the junction of the Yangtze and Hanjiang rivers, were joined in 1927 into the single entity of Wuhan.
Now we're in twin cities
Where the Mississippi rises and then falls
One is Minneapolis
And the other no less famous is St. Paul?s
There are stray dogs on the highway
And the local farmers moan about lack of rain
When the winds blew last winter I swear
England had another hurricane, hurricane
And we are twin cities, and we are that river
From the standing still, we will be delivered
Last time in New York was with Mandela
And Madonna and The Mets
They?re icons of an era where
That?s about as famous as it gets
(That?s what I call famous, babe)
I?ve seen cities full of ticker tape
And cotton trains through Utah, disappearing out of sight
Now I?m standing in a city
That?s as pretty as an ocean in the night
And we are twin cities, and we are that ocean
From the standing still, we are set in motion
And no one calls me up to say
?How long are you going to be away??
(Are you ever coming back?)
Yeah, yeah
(Are you ever coming back?)
No one calls me up to say
?Don?t let that life lead you astray?
(Don?t forget to come back)
Yeah
(Don?t forget to come back)
They were rioting in Detroit on the night
The Pistons won it back to back
I was out of there the next day
And I only had just two bags to pack
And we are twin cities, and we are one river
From the standing still, we will be delivered
And we are twin cities, and we are one ocean
From the standing still, we are set in motion
Yeah, we are twin cities
We are one river
(We are twin cities)
One ocean
We are twin cities
(We are twin cities)
We are one river, yeah
One ocean
We are twin cities, one ocean