Picking Partners in Peace

How did Portsmouth, New Hampshire get the sister city of Carrickfergus, Northern Ireland? Why is Denver, Colorado partnered with Baghdad, Iraq? Ningbo, China and Jacksonville, Florida...really? These are the types of questions most folks start with when they see the sister cities directory. How does one city pick another city for sisterhood?

While as an organization we have a number of recommendations for communities to consider before partnering (population, economic drivers, topography, university town, and other common links), at first this wasn't the case - there are some rich stories dating more than 50 years.

• What U.S. city has the most sister cities? Chicago, IL (27)
• What's the largest city in the U.S. with sister cities? New York, NY (Population: 8,000,000+)
• What's the smallest city in the U.S. with sister cities? Gilbert, AR (Population: 32)
• Which country has the most sister city partnerships with the U.S.? Japan (269)
• What continent has the most sister city partnerships with the U.S.? Europe (35% of U.S. partnerships)

I invite you to see what cities your hometown is partnered with at www.sister-cities.org/icrc/directory/index.

Question of the Day: What's the most unusual sister city pairing you can find?