SISTER CITY NETWORK’S DEVELOPMENT IN CENTRAL-EASTERN EUROPEAN REGIONAL CENTRES
SISTER CITY NETWORK’S DEVELOPMENT IN CENTRAL-EASTERN EUROPEAN REGIONAL CENTRES

Summary/Abstract: In recent years, the analysis of contact networks has become increasingly popular in academia. Originally built on cultural understanding and peace through civil diplomacy, twinning, however, is in a state of flux in today's society. This study aims to analyse the network of sister cities in the Central and Eastern European region. This co-operation emerged in Europe in the early 1900s and spread worldwide after the Second World War. The research seeks to answer the question: what kind of sister city networks have developed between Central and Eastern European cities in contemporary times? The analysis focuses on regional centres with spatial functions at NUTS2 level in ten regional countries, with a total of 95 cities with a population of between 100,000 and 1 million inhabitants. The research is based on the Eurostat Urban Audit and the database on twinning and partnership published on the official websites of the cities. The data were analysed using IBM SPSS Statistics 21 software and the network relationships were examined using the network graphing software Gephi 0.9.5. The research results revealed that twinning partnerships are concentrated mainly in small towns in the Central European geographical region of the continent, and within this region between Hungarian, Polish and Romanian cities. The development of twinning relations is seen as a major opportunity for cities of international importance and macro-regional centres to maintain their competitiveness.

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