Town Twinning
Town twinning is a concept whereby towns or cities in geographically and politically distinct areas are paired, with the goal of fostering human contact and cultural links.
In Europe, such pairs of towns are known as twin towns, friendship towns or partner towns.
The twinning concept can be likened to a scaled up version of a "pen pal" scheme, in which the "pals" are whole towns or cities. In practice, the twinning arrangements often lead to student exchange programs, as well as economic and cultural collaborations
Bangor in North Down is twinned with Virginia Beach, USA and Bregenz, Austria.
To read more about these 'twin towns' click on the links below.