From Cairo to Tokyo: Can you guess these twin cities? | Interactive Information
As a London borough strikes to chop ties with Haifa, check your information of the global community’s twin cities.
Published On 14 Oct 2026
Hackney, a borough in east London, is consulting residents till October 14 on whether or not to finish its twinning with Haifa, Israel’s third-largest metropolis, a hyperlink that dates again to 1968.
The Green Party-led council voted on July 28 to finish the partnership in precept, citing its values and human rights commitments amid Israel’s genocidal warfare on Gaza. Councillors will make a remaining choice after the session and a overview of the borough’s twinning coverage.
Recommended Stories
listing of three objectsfinish of listing
What are twin cities?
Twin cities, additionally referred to as sister cities, are locations in numerous nations linked by formal friendship agreements. These relationships can help college exchanges, cultural occasions and civic visits, although many turn into inactive over time.
Can you guess which cities are twinned? Take our quiz under.
How twin cities started
Modern city twinning grew after World War II as a solution to rebuild belief and foster peace. Coventry and Stalingrad (now Volgograd), each closely bombed through the warfare, established a friendship hyperlink in 1944, typically cited as the primary trendy city-twinning relationship.
The US metropolis of St Paul and Japan’s Nagasaki established a sister-city partnership in 1955 to advertise reconciliation after the atomic bombing of the latter in 1945. Cities have since fashioned hyperlinks due to shared histories, comparable roles as capitals or ports, or communities with roots in each locations.
Why do cities reduce ties?
Because twinning is usually symbolic, ending a hyperlink can permit a council to make an announcement. Several UK councils suspended or ended hyperlinks with Russian cities after the 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
Prague’s relationship with Beijing additionally resulted in 2019 amid a dispute involving Taiwan, after which the Czech Republic established a partnership with Taipei. Hackney’s proposal is the newest instance of cities reassessing their overseas ties.
