This international collection provides a comprehensive overview of twin cities in different circumstances - from the emergent to the recently amalgamated, on 'soft' and 'hard' borders, with post-colonial heritage, in post-conflict environments and under strain. With examples from Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, South America, North America and the Caribbean, the volume sees twin cities as intense thermometers for developments in the wider urban world globally. It offers interdisciplinary perspectives that bridge history, politics, culture, economy, geography and other fields, applying these lenses to examples of twin cities in remote places. Providing a comparative approach and drawing on a range of methodologies, the book explores where and how twin cities arise; what twin cities can tell us about international borders; and the way in which some twin cities bear the spatial marks of their colonial past. The chapters explore the impact on twin-city relations of contemporary pressures, such as mass migration, the rise of populism, East-West tensions, international crime, surveillance, rebordering trends and epidemiological risks triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic. With case studies across the continents, this volume for the first time extends twin-city debates to fictional imaginings of twin cities. Twin Cities across Five Continents is a valuable resource for researchers in the fields of anthropology, history, geography, urban studies, border studies, international relations and global development as well as for students in these disciplines.

This dynamic international collection provides a comprehensive overview of twin cities on administrative and international borders across the world. Drawing on contemporary and historical examples, it documents constant and changing features of twinned communities over time. The chapters explore a variety of urban formations including independent cities located side-by-side; cities that have merged over decades or even centuries and those projected to merge; cities partitioned by treaties and cities duplicated in pursuit of better security, intensified trade or both between neighbouring countries. From Europe to Africa, North America to the Middle East, South America to Asia, this book focuses on relationships between cities, citizens and municipal/international borders. A cartographical contents and editorial commentary guide readers through diverse contributions. The authors ask how far cities are changing or remaining constant in the context of conurbanisation, Europeanisation and globalization. The book provides a glimpse into the variety of roles twin cities can play globally: from laboratories of integration and para-diplomatic actors to economic and cultural brokers. This is a valuable, engaging resource for researchers in the fields of geography, urban studies, border studies, international relations and global development. It will be of great use to individuals involved in twin-city initiatives and general readers.