Why is liverpool twinned with cologne

Release date: 23 September Print this Article. Download as PDF. These signs represent a history of international co-operation and friendship, some at an official level, many as informal links between groups of people of all ages and backgrounds.

Twinning became popular in Great Britain after the Second World War, with the aim that building links and exchanges between individual towns and cities would bring reconciliation and prosperity after years of conflict. Perhaps the most famous link is between Coventry and Dresden, which both suffered catastrophic damage from aerial bombing. Other links stem from goodwill missions to help with particular post-war projects or simply from a curiosity about overseas places, as travel became easier.

This article from the Office for National Statistics looks at around 60 British towns and cities that have a twinning link with towns and cities in Europe, mostly in France and Germany, based on information given on council or twinning association websites in September Links can be formal or informal, with varying degrees of exchange activity.

We use data from the European City Statistics project, a joint initiative to collect and publish figures that can be easily compared across borders. All data shown are the most recent available from the Eurostat website. Data downloads for , and accompany this article with all the data we feature, as well as many more statistics for twinned towns and sister cities. The European City Statistics database referenced at the end of this article contains data for all other major towns and cities across the UK and Europe.

What all the towns and cities in this article have in common is that they are administrative units with varying degrees of responsibility for delivering local services. There are many more UK cities, towns and villages with active overseas partnerships than we can cover in this article, but we hope that the selection described here will give some insight into an historical and locally important, but little discussed, aspect of British civic life today.

A shared sense of history can be the root of many original twinnings. Twinned with Duisburg, Germany, in , Portsmouth City Council suggested the twinning as an act of reconciliation, so that the post-war reconstruction would see not only buildings, but also relations between the two nations rebuilt. Twinned since , St. Helens, as a leading manufacturer of glass, was able to support the rebuilding of Stuttgart, Germany, parts of which had been destroyed or damaged by bombing during the conflict.

These types of historical partnerships have continued until today when there are often still close links between the British and German communities. The towns and cities themselves, however, are not necessarily similar in characteristics. This section looks at population structure and change in British towns and cities, compared with their German twins. Population growth between and has been notably higher in British towns and cities, compared with their German twins, reflecting a trend seen generally in the two countries since the early s.

Figure 1: British towns and cities have been growing more in terms of population than their German twins Urban Audit, to Source: Eurostat, Office for National Statistics Download this chart Figure 1: British towns and cities have been growing more in terms of population than their German twins Image.

A comparison of the twinned towns and cities in our study shows more people aged 75 years and older in European towns and cities, compared with their British counterparts. Structural changes to the demographics of the European population are attributed mainly to low birth rates and increasing life expectancy. In Germany, the current life expectancy at birth is In the UK, life expectancy at birth is slightly higher for males However, the population aged 65 years and older in Great Britain is projected to grow in urban areas.

Figure 2: The proportion of population aged 75 years and older is higher in German towns and cities Urban Audit, Source: Eurostat, Office for National Statistics Download this chart Figure 2: The proportion of population aged 75 years and older is higher in German towns and cities Image.

Population ageing in Europe means that people are not only living longer but also that the proportion of people aged 20 to 64 years, which includes the majority of people working, is declining. The old-age dependency ratio defined internationally as the population 65 years and over to population 20 to 64 years can be an indicator to show the level of support available to people aged 65 years and older by the working population.

The number of people aged 65 years and older, relative to the number of people aged 20 to 64 years, tends to be higher in European twinned towns and cities compared with those in Great Britain and this is reflected among the British and German twinned towns and cities we feature Figure 3. Figure 3: German towns and cities have a higher old-age dependency ratio Urban Audit, Source: Eurostat, Office for National Statistics Download this chart Figure 3: German towns and cities have a higher old-age dependency ratio Image.

Native born as a proportion of population for the German and British twin towns and sister cities is shown in Figure 4. Data are from as this provides the most complete coverage for the places we feature in this article.

With the exception of Coventry, Leicester and Birmingham, British towns and cities have higher proportions of native born people people born in Great Britain , compared with the proportions of native born people in their German twins people born in Germany.

Figure 4: British towns and cities generally have higher proportions of native born people, compared with their German twins Urban Audit, Source: Eurostat, Office for National Statistics Download this chart Figure 4: British towns and cities generally have higher proportions of native born people, compared with their German twins Image. The European City Statistics project also collects data on foreign persons living in cities.

Overall, the percentage of foreign nationals living in cities has risen within the EU. In our study, the proportion of foreign nationals was generally higher in German towns and cities compared with their British twins, as shown in Figure 5. Foreign nationals accounted for nearly a quarter of the population in Stuttgart, Germany. Other British places in our study with higher proportions of foreign nationals also tend to be university towns and cities.

Figure 5: The proportion of foreign nationals is higher in German towns and cities than in their British twins Urban Audit, Source: Eurostat, Office for National Statistics Download this chart Figure 5: The proportion of foreign nationals is higher in German towns and cities than in their British twins Image.

Analysis by type of dwelling shows distinct differences in the prevalence of flats or houses across countries. There is a notable predominance of houses in the British towns and cities we feature, rather than apartments, compared with their German twins.

Cologne, Germany, particularly stands out because its high number of flats , is more than four times the number of houses in the city.

Its twin city, Liverpool, in contrast, has more than two and a half times more houses than flats. Across the EU, the share of flats in the total number of dwellings tends to be higher in cities with a larger population size, however, even in larger cities houses are common in Great Britain, as shown in Figure 6. Figure 6: British towns and cities have a predominance of houses rather than apartments in cities with a population above , Urban Audit, Source: Eurostat, Office for National Statistics Download this chart Figure 6: British towns and cities have a predominance of houses rather than apartments in cities with a population above , Image.

Figure 7: British towns and cities with a population below , have a predominance of houses rather than apartments Urban Audit, Source: Source: Eurostat, Office for National Statistics Download this chart Figure 7: British towns and cities with a population below , have a predominance of houses rather than apartments Image.

Many of the strongest links between British and European towns and cities are because of active exchange programmes between schools. This section expands our examination of twinned towns and sister cites to other European countries, as well as Germany.

For example, Strasbourg in France offers its students special grants in order to study in one of its five dedicated twin towns, which includes Leicester. In , Coventry celebrated its 60th anniversary of twinning with the city of Dresden in Germany. To mark this occasion 30 pupils from Coventry visited Dresden. Similar to the old-age dependency ratio, the young-age dependency ratio measures the population aged 19 years and younger compared with the number of people aged 20 to 64 years, which includes the majority of people working.

Higher education institutions are often located in cities, which leads to cities having typically higher proportions of people in the 19 to 21 years age group. The young-age dependency ratio tends to be higher in British towns and cities compared with their European twins, as shown in Figure 8. Figure 8: Young-age dependency ratio is mostly higher in British towns or cities Urban Audit, Source: Eurostat, Office for National Statistics Download this chart Figure 8: Young-age dependency ratio is mostly higher in British towns or cities Image.

This is an interesting age group as it covers young adults as they study for GCSEs and A levels or the equivalents , and this group often forms part of school exchanges. In this age group there are similar or higher proportions of people aged 15 to 19 years in British towns and cities, compared with their European twins Figure 9.

Figure 9: The proportion of to year olds is generally higher in British towns and cities, compared with their European twins Urban Audit, Source: Eurostat, Office for National Statistics Download this chart Figure 9: The proportion of to year olds is generally higher in British towns and cities, compared with their European twins Image.

Towns and cities are sometimes associated by the presence of a major university. Oxford and Cambridge are twinned with other famous university cities including Szeged Hungary , Heidelberg Germany and Grenoble France. The European City Statistics project collects data on the proportion of students in higher education and uses an internationally comparable standard known as ISCED. Within this framework, levels 5 to 8 are equivalent to degree level and above.

The source data from European City Statistics contains information on the number of students in many higher education establishments throughout the UK and Europe. In this section we focus on towns and cities that are noted for their universities, compared with their European twinned towns and cities.

There are, generally, more higher education students in European towns and cities. It is important to note, however, that Great Britain has nearly double the number of universities compared with France and around a third more than Germany. However, the number of students in Great Britain is 2.

In this context, it is perhaps not surprising that, generally, British university towns and cities see similar or lower proportions of degree-level students than their European twins Figure Rio is home to football teams America and Flamengo which happens to be the most supported club in the world. The Millions Derby, between Vasco de Gama and Flamengo, is said to regarded in the same manner as the Merseyside derby. Elvis Presley and The Beatles changed popular music and pop culture forever.

Elvis was a massive influence on the Beatles, and the Fingerprints of Elvis exhibition which celebrated the musical relationship between them both was held at the Albert Dock in Liverpool that year.

It was organised by the team behind The Beatles Story. It is often observed that Liverpool and Glasgow are so similar they could be related. In bygone times, both cities being ports and building wealth through sugar, tobacco, cotton and slavery meant we competed to be the second city in the British empire. Managers of Liverpool and Celtic Bill Shankly and Jock Stein, had a good and respectful relationship, both men with shared values reflecting the class and industrial make-up of the cities their teams thrived in.

Southport News. Advertise with The Guide. Our video services. Liverpool Wirral Southport Features Business. Lifestyle See All. Liverpool has forged many complimentary and productive relationships with different countries and cities all over the world, through industry and culture and geography. Some of these friendships have lasted centuries. We picked ten of the strongest, old and new. New York We have so many things in common but Liverpool will always be bonded with New York because of John Lennon, who lived there with wife Yoko Ono and youngest son Sean, before tragically dying outside the Dakota Building in Shanghai We were twinned with Shanghai in the autumn of when a delegation travelled over there to organise activities for their very own Liverpool Week.

Cologne Of course Liverpool has an undeniable relationship with the German city of Hamburg, The Beatles cutting their teeth there back at the dawn of the Sixties. Welsh Eisteddfod The Eisteddfod celebration of Welsh language, literature, poetry and culture is held in Llangollen, Denbighshire. Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro boasts a rich football heritage and what do you know, we do as well!

Memphis Elvis Presley and The Beatles changed popular music and pop culture forever. Glasgow It is often observed that Liverpool and Glasgow are so similar they could be related. Get all of the latest news for Liverpool and beyond here. Got a story you would like to share with us?

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