More than Food and Folk Music? Geographical Perspectives on European Town Twinning

This article considers the widespread phenomenon of town twinning, placing contemporary practices of twinning in the context of a long history of attempts to promote municipal cooperation across international borders. This paper argues that such twinnings can be conceptualised as forms of economic and project‐based cooperation – albeit one underpinned by a range of symbolic exchanges. Locating twinning within debates on the internationalisation and relationality of cities, this paper thus sketches an agenda for research in which twinning is considered a mutable practice of city governance.