Clausthal-Zellerfeld is a town in Lower Saxony , Germany . It is located in the southwestern part of the Harz mountains. Its population is approximately 15,000. The town hosts the Clausthal University of Technology . The health resort is located in the Upper Harz at an altitude between 390 and 821 m above sea level .
90-621: Clausthal-Zellerfeld is located on the Upper Harz Plateau. The surrounding area is less mountainous compared to most of the Harz. As a result, the adjacent area is less wooded and there is more pasture land. Scattered in and around Clausthal-Zellerfeld are numerous dams and streams belonging to the Upper Harz Water Regale . The depression between Clausthal and Zellerfeld marks a natural "borderline". Southwest extends
180-575: A twin town relationship is a form of legal or social agreement between two geographically and politically distinct localities for the purpose of promoting cultural and commercial ties. While there are early examples of international links between municipalities akin to what are known as sister cities or twin towns today dating back to the 9th century, the modern concept was first established and adopted worldwide during World War II . Throughout history, many cities have participated in various cultural exchanges and similar activities that might resemble
270-490: A "similar attitude towards food," whereas Chicago 's link with Warsaw , Poland began with Chicago's historic Polish community . The twinning of Indianapolis with Monza , Italy, is due to both cities' long association with auto racing . A twin towns program was instituted in the United States in 1956 when President Dwight D. Eisenhower proposed a citizen diplomacy initiative. Sister Cities International (SCI)
360-519: A "tuning" partnership based on a shared musical heritage and culture offer, at the initiative of Bristol Mayor George Ferguson . Annecy , France and Nerima , Tokyo have for several years shared a partnership based on their "co-existent animation industry". Toledo, United States twinned with Toledo, Spain in 1931, and was the first city in North America to engage in town twinning. Vancouver, Canada twinned with Odesa, Ukraine in 1944,
450-534: A common etymology . These similarities usually arise from sharing the same or related language or having been a colony or previously conquered. The twinning of towns and cities is sometimes done for political purposes. The Hungarian city Gyöngyös was twinned with the Azerbaijani city of Shusha in 2013, signing the twinning agreement with representatives from the Azerbaijani government; Hungary recognised Shusha as de jure part of Azerbaijan , even though it
540-634: A decisive advantage for the business location. In addition to the usual craft businesses, there is a relatively large window factory as well as several companies spun off from the Clausthal University of Technology or CUTEC, which specialize primarily in particle measurement technology in testing technology. Tourism is another important branch of the economy in Clausthal-Zellerfeld, but above all in its districts Altenau, Buntenbock, Schulenberg and Wildemann. From 1877 to 1976,
630-575: A factory in the Republic of Karelia in Russia and offered the same profit-sharing plan to its Russian employees. China's sister city relationships are managed by the Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries , a united front organization. Sister city initiatives are an increasingly widespread mechanism for Chinese public diplomacy . From the early 2000s until 2024,
720-499: A gift of timber from his native country for use in the new Civic Theatre, which when finished was named Belgrade Theatre . The purpose of twinnings was then expanded to encourage trade and tourism or to reflect other links, such as towns sharing the same name or migration links. By the 2000s, town twinning became increasingly used to form strategic international business links among member cities, and may include localities of any scope such as villages, prefectures, or countries. In
810-401: A hierarchical relationship. In the 2010s, Tokyo began to actively promote 'city diplomacy' with other global cities at the initiative of governor Yoichi Masuzoe . Relationships between communities can also arise because of shared names; they may be named after one community (as in the case of Córdoba ), they may share names (as in the case of Santiago de Compostela ), or their names may have
900-611: A link that still exists. Since 9 April 1956 Rome and Paris have been exclusively and reciprocally twinned with each other, following the motto: "Only Paris is worthy of Rome; only Rome is worthy of Paris." Within Europe, town twinning is supported by the European Union. The support scheme was established in 1989. In 2003 an annual budget of about € 12 million was allocated to about 1,300 projects. The Council of European Municipalities and Regions also works closely with
990-416: A result, mines - particularly the richer, deeper ones - started to use hydropower systems, able to work continuously, 24 hours a day. To do this, streams were diverted onto water wheels that drove reciprocating pumps in order to raise water from greater depths and in greater quantities. The principle was to raise water with water. To operate these water wheels , a continuous and substantial supply of water
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#17327732843391080-597: A role in flood protection and the supply of drinking water . On 31 July 2010 the Regale was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site affiliated with the Mines of Rammelsberg and the Historic Town of Goslar because of its importance in the development of mining techniques and testimony to the medieval history of ore mining. The water system covers an area of roughly 200 square kilometres (77 sq mi) within
1170-558: A sister-city or twin-city relationship, but the first officially documented case of such a relationship was a signed agreement between the leaders of the cities of Toledo, Ohio and Toledo, Spain in 1931. However, the modern concept of town twinning appeared during the Second World War. More specifically, it was inspired by the bombing of Coventry on 14 November 1940, known as the Coventry Blitz . First conceived by
1260-409: A sort of international relations that works in parallel to the conventional system involving embassies, ambassadors, and treaties negotiated at the level of nation states . According to Rodrigo Tavares , the earliest formal attempts to establish city diplomacy across national boundaries took place in the 19th century. Only a handful of cities were involved in the 19th-century efforts; it was not until
1350-546: A twin town. Twinned towns are often chosen because of similarities between them; thus about 15 towns in Wales are twinned with towns in Brittany , and Oxford is with Bonn , Leiden , Grenoble and other university cities. In Italy, two sets of twins are Rovigo with Viernheim , and Bedford with Tulcea . Many former West German cities are twinned with former East German cities; these twinning links were established before
1440-542: Is 35 kilometres long. It collected water from the mines in Bockswiese, Lautenthal, Zellerfeld, Clausthal and Wildemann and led it to Gittelde on the edge of the Harz. About 80–90% of the ponds in the Upper Harz Water Regale were created in the 16th and 17th centuries, whilst the system of dam ditches was further expanded in the 19th century. These structures contributed significantly to
1530-415: Is in a separate smaller painting (above its main one) showing a beech tree, intended as a symbol of prosperity and from which Carshalton Beeches in the borough derives its name. Another example of the use of public art is the wall sculpture of the partner cities of Munich , Germany. A recent study has concluded that geographical distance has very little, if any, influence upon communities' selections of
1620-530: Is mostly located in the main center around Adolph-Roemer-Straße in the Clausthal district. Small-scale retail can be found in the side center in the Zellerfeld district. At the beginning of 2000, an area at the former Ostbahnhof was designated as a special location for large-scale retail. Further supermarkets can be found at the northern exit of Zellerfeld. Overall, the retail trade in the former mountain town
1710-560: Is not precise enough, because in the last hundred years an intensive, modern water management system has been put in place in the Upper Harz in the form of a number of new dams and their associated structures and ditches. The Upper Harz was once one of the most important mining regions in Germany. The major products of its mines were silver, copper, lead, iron and, from the 19th century, zinc as well. The main source of income, however,
1800-460: Is not very well developed and is now suffering from the general decline in shops. The development of the Clausthal University of Technology is of great importance for the mining town of Clausthal-Zellerfeld, as it increases the attractiveness and attraction of the location for innovative investments. The development of the TU Clausthal and the cooperation between local companies and science is
1890-447: Is twinned with Dorval, Quebec ; Huai'an, China , and Neyagawa, Osaka , Japan. Town twinning begins for a variety of reasons. Generally, partner towns have similar demographics and size. They may arise from business connections, travel, similar industries, diaspora communities, or shared history. For example, the partnership between Portland, Oregon and Bologna , Italy arose from shared industries in biotechnology and education, and
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#17327732843391980-998: Is used by the public utilities of Clausthal-Zellerfeld to supply drinking water to Clausthal-Zellerfeld and Altenau; similarly Zellerfeld uses the Upper and Middle Kellerhals Ponds. Hahnenklee gets its drinking water from the Auerhahn Pond, the New Grumbach Pond and the Upper Kellerhals Pond. There are similar water supply systems in the historic silver mining region near Freiberg in Saxony , in Norwegian Kongsberg , in Schemnitz (today part of Slovakia) and in Sweden, and records show that there
2070-623: The Langelsheim–Altenau (Oberharz) railway ran trains from the station to Altenau and Langelsheim . Today the public transport is served by several bus lines that travel to Goslar , Osterode am Harz , Altenau and Sankt Andreasberg . In addition to the primary and secondary school facilities, Clausthal-Zellerfeld also houses the School of Economics and Technology and the Clausthal University of Technology . The facilities of
2160-509: The Lower Saxon part of the Harz , the majority of structures being found in the vicinity of Clausthal-Zellerfeld , Hahnenklee , Sankt Andreasberg , Buntenbock , Wildemann , Lautenthal , Schulenberg , Altenau and Torfhaus . Regale in this context means a royal prerogative . Through the so-called Bergregal , or "mining rights", the monarch granted the right to mine and, through
2250-856: The Samson Pit : the Grüner Hirsch power station at a depth of 130 metres and the Sieberstollen power station at 190 metres. Following the closure of power stations the facilities of the Water Regale were initially transferred to the Lower Saxony State Forestry Department, which maintained them through the Clausthal-Schulenberg Forestry Office at the cost of much labour and money. In order to relieve
2340-598: The Wasserregal , he granted the right to use local water supplies for the purpose of mining. Other water users, particularly mill owners , had a lower priority . This 'water regale' or 'right to use water' was part of the overall Bergfreiheit or mining rights that were valid in Lower Saxony until the 1960s. In German, the term Oberharzer Wasserwirtschaft ("Upper Harz Water Management") has also been frequently used to refer to these historic facilities. But this
2430-723: The World Economic Forum . In addition to C40, other organisations facilitating city diplomacy include the World Cities Summit , City Mayors Foundation , the Smart City Expo World Congress , the Strong City Network and 100 Resilient Cities. As of 2016, there were over 125 such multilateral networks and forums to facilitate international collaboration between different municipal authorities. A Bill introduced in
2520-403: The "Small Clausthal valley". Clausthal-Zellerfeld originally consisted of two towns which were merged in 1924 to form an administrative unit. Clausthal is well known for the old Clausthal University of Technology and its magnificent buildings, while Zellerfeld is a typical tourist resort for hikers and winter sportsmen. Clausthal-Zellerfeld is the largest town in the area that is situated in
2610-526: The 1990s, when the Nottingham City Council in the UK considered installing a tram network, it consulted experts from its twin city of Karlsruhe , which has one of the most extensive and efficient tram networks in Germany. With assistance from Karlsruhe's specialist engineers, Nottingham completed its second tram line in 2013. In 2014, Bristol and New Orleans announced their intention to form
2700-533: The 2019 session of the US Congress would have legislated for a City and State Diplomacy Act to create a new Office of Subnational Diplomacy at the Department of State . H.R.3571 - 116th Congress (2019-2020): City and State Diplomacy Act. Recently, the field of city diplomacy has taken a step beyond city-to-city exchanges to target the facilitation of dialogue between cities and multilateral organs, such as
2790-607: The Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, Henry the Younger . But it was his son, Julius, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg , who gave added impetus to existing mining operations in the Upper Harz and initiated the creation of a large number of ponds and ditches. It was the extensive use of hydropower that made the mining boom in the Upper Harz possible. As the mines became ever deeper over time they needed more and more energy. The lack of water following months of little rain or long periods of frost
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2880-512: The Dutch city was still occupied by the German Army in the final months of the war, and children from each city took part in exchanges in 1945 and 1946. Similarly, in 1947, Bristol Corporation (later Bristol City Council) sent five "leading citizens" on a goodwill mission to Hanover . Reading in 1947 was the first British town to form links with a former "enemy" city – Düsseldorf ,
2970-584: The French town; formal twinning charters were not exchanged until 1986. The practice was continued after the Second World War as a way to promote mutual understanding and cross-border projects of mutual benefit. For example, Coventry twinned with Stalingrad and later with Dresden as an act of peace and reconciliation, all three cities having been heavily bombed during the war. The city of Bath formed an " Alkmaar Adoption committee" in March 1945, when
3060-415: The Harz becoming the largest industrial region of Germany in the early modern period . The invention of the steam engine and the discovery of electrical energy did not immediately change the use of hydropower . These other forms of energy were introduced relatively gradually in the Upper Harz. Of course, with the introduction of the steam engine, the difficulties of acquiring coal in sufficient quantities
3150-631: The Lower Saxon State Forestry Department or are even in private hands. The principle of water diversion is to collect the water in ditches, running almost parallel to the contours of the slope, and to divert it to the mining areas. These supply channels can easily be ten or more kilometres long (like the Dam Ditch or the Upper Schalke Ditch). Sometimes the water so collected was not fed directly to
3240-633: The Netherlands, the term is jumelage , partnerstad or stedenband ("city bond" when providing mutual support). In Greece, the word αδελφοποίηση ( adelphopiisi – fraternisation) has been adopted. In Iceland, the terms vinabæir (friend towns) and vinaborgir (friend cities) are used. In the former Soviet Bloc , "twin towns" and "twin cities" were used, and in Russian, they use города-побратимы (sworn brother cities). The Americas, South Asia, and Australasia use
3330-574: The Scottish village of Dull and the US town of Boring, Oregon , agreed to twin their municipalities to promote tourism in both places, playing on their names. Recently some towns have made novelty twinning arrangements with fictional or virtual locations. Wincanton , England is partnered with Ankh-Morpork from Terry Pratchett 's Discworld books . Town twinning has increasingly been used to form strategic international business links. For example, in
3420-610: The TU are concentrated on the Feldgraben area campus as well as distributed in the Clausthal city area and on the Tannenhöhe . Primary school: Further Training Clausthal-Zellerfeld is twinned with: Upper Harz Water Regale The Upper Harz Water Regale ( German : Oberharzer Wasserregal , pronounced [ˌoːbɐhaːɐ̯tsɐ ˈvasɐʁeɡaːl] ) is a system of dams, reservoirs, ditches and other structures, much of which
3510-548: The US). In Japan, the international city relations may be split into multiple terms, such as Sister Cities, Friendship Cooperation Cities, Business Partner Cities (BPC), Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), Sister Ports / Friendship Ports, etc. China mostly uses the term "friendship cooperation cities" rather than "sister cities", as the Chinese words for sisters, "姐妹" (reading: jiěmèi, literally elder sister and younger sister), could imply
3600-527: The United Kingdom, the term "twin towns" is most commonly used; the term "sister cities" is generally used for agreements with towns and cities in the Americas. In mainland Europe, the most commonly used terms are "twin towns", "partnership towns", "partner towns", and "friendship towns". The European Commission uses the term "twinned towns" and refers to the process as "town twinning". Spain uses
3690-825: The United Nations. Not only cities and towns, but also provinces, states, territories, and regions enter into twinning agreements. For example, the Canadian province of Alberta has "sister province" agreements with Gangwon, South Korea (since 1974), Hokkaido, Japan (since 1980), Heilongjiang, China (1981), Jalisco, Mexico (1999), Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine (2004), Lviv, Ukraine (2005), Guangdong, China (2017), and California, United States (2018), as well as policy-oriented (as opposed to economic and cultural) agreements with Nevada, United States (since 2013), Missouri, United States (2015), and Texas, United States (2018). The earliest known town twinning in Europe
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3780-584: The Upper Harz continued until 1992, but it only needed to use a small fraction of the facilities of the Upper Harz Water Regale. Following the demise of the mining industry in 1930, water from the Upper Harz Water Regale was switched to generating electricity, some new structures being built as a result. The generation of electricity was carried out by Preussag until 1980 in the Kaiser Wilhelm (maximum output 4.5 MW ) and Ottiliae (maximum output 1.5 MW) mines. These hydropower stations were closed in
3870-447: The Upper Harz mining industry produced a considerable number of innovations and inventions, including such important advances as the man engine , the water-column engine ( Wassersäulenmaschine ) and the wire cable . Mining becomes a very energy-intensive activity as soon as excavation extends any significant distance underground. In the Upper Harz, vein mining ( Gangerzbergbau ) was the main form of extraction, with excavation following
3960-703: The absorption of the Kingdom of Hanover into the Kingdom of Prussia , the Royal Prussian Mining Inspectorate ( Königlich-Preußische Bergbauinspektion ) and, later, Preussag took over the operation of mines in the Upper Harz. An inventory dating to the year 1868 reveals that a total of 198 water wheels of various diameters and a total capacity of about 3000 horsepower were driven by the Upper Harz Water Regale . Around 1900, mining shaft depths of 1,000 metres were attained. But
4050-470: The commission (DG Education and Culture) to promote modern, high quality twinning initiatives and exchanges that involve all sections of the community. It has launched a website dedicated to town twinning. As of 1995, the European Union had more than 7,000 bilateral relationships involving almost 10,000 European municipalities, primarily French (2837 twinnings) and German (2485 twinnings). Public art has been used to celebrate twin town links, for instance in
4140-421: The construction of so-called Wasserläufen (also Wasserüberleitungsstollen ) or water tunnels. These enabled the distance travelled by the water to be significantly shortened. It also guaranteed winter working, because the water running underground did not freeze up. In addition the maintenance cost of a short section of tunnel was much cheaper than that of a long ditch run. But a particularly important advantage
4230-600: The cost of mining at greater and greater depths continued to rise. At the same time the industry had to compete with other metal mining areas at home and abroad in an era of improving transportation. Overexploitation during the First World War and plummeting metal prices during the Great Depression caused, at its peak, a great wave of closures, as large mines in Clausthal-Zellerfeld, Bockswiese and Lautenthal had to shut down. In Bad Grund, however, mining in
4320-661: The early 1980s when water rights had expired and the profitability of power stations steadily declined against a background of sharply increasing wages and stagnating energy prices. Nevertheless, in Sankt Andreasberg the water of the Oderteich, transferred along the Rehberg Ditch, is still used to generate electricity today. In addition to the Teichtal and Grundstraße power stations, there are two stations in
4410-522: The facilities entrusted to the Harzwasserwerke there is a large number of dam ruins, tunnel entrances and several hundreds of kilometres of ditches that are not maintained. These structures enjoy the status of a so-called passive protected monument . That means that they are like the ruins of castles, subject to very gradual decay, but which may not be destroyed by modern measures without legal permission under conservation law. The Hirschler Pond
4500-633: The facilities of the Upper Harz Water Regale. In all, 143 dammed ponds, 500 kilometres of ditch and 30 kilometres of tunnel were built for the collection, diversion and storage of the surface runoff water in the Upper Harz. In addition about 100 kilometres of drainage adits are included as part of the Regale . These facilities were not, however, all in operation at the same time. The Harzwasserwerke today operates and maintains 65 dammed ponds, 70 kilometres of ditch and 20 kilometres of tunnel. Several smaller dammed ponds still belong to
4590-470: The fall of the Iron Curtain . Famous examples are the partnerships of Hanover and Leipzig , both of which have important trade fair grounds , or between Hamburg and Dresden. The first US-German town twinning was in 1947 between Worthington, Minnesota and Crailsheim . St Petersburg in Russia holds the record for the largest number of partnership arrangements with other communities. In June 2012,
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#17327732843394680-466: The form of seven mural paintings in the centre of the town of Sutton , Greater London. The five main paintings show a number of the main features of the London Borough of Sutton and its four twin towns, along with the heraldic shield of each above the other images. Each painting also features a plant as a visual representation of its town's environmental awareness . In the case of Sutton this
4770-557: The genocide in 2016, some twin agreements such as Edirne – Haskovo were terminated by Turkey. China manages sister city relationships through the Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (CPAFFC). In April 2019, CPAFFC president Li Xiaolin said, “Friendship city relations have become one of the important channels to implement the Belt and Road Initiative .” In January 2020, Shanghai canceled its sister city relationship with Prague after Prague's mayor signed
4860-458: The heavy demand for water, led to even more strenuous attempts to develop the available water power. The miners usually built new water structures in those periods when no ore could be extracted due to the lack of water to power the wheels. When the water wheels stopped running, the underground water that ingressed the mine could no longer be removed; the mine drowned and the miners were driven out. During these phases work concentrated on upgrading
4950-475: The length of the ditches the Upper Harz Water Regale is best explored on foot. Thanks to the Harzwasserwerke a large number of waterside footpaths have been created in recent years: the so-called Wasserwanderwege . Visitors can get to know about the typical elements that make up the Upper Harz Water Regale by means of information boards along the clearly marked routes. With a few exceptions, most of
5040-562: The mines to be threatened. This led to several mines having to be closed. In their heyday, the mines of the Upper Harz were among the deepest in the world. For example, as early as 1700, shaft depths of 300 metres were exceeded and, around 1830, a depth of 600 metres was attained; this was now so deep that the mine was actually below sea level - something which was considered significant at that time. Deep shafts, however, demanded correspondingly high levels of energy to lift ore and pit water . This high energy consumption, combined with
5130-523: The mines, was managed by the Cistercian abbey at Walkenried . The Black Death in the Middle Ages depopulated the Harz to a great extent and almost brought mining operations to a standstill. Another factor was probably that mining had reached its technical limits at the time with depths of up to about 60 metres. A clear recovery followed from about 1520 onwards, initially at the instigation of
5220-665: The mountains rather than on the edge. Mining in the area began in the 16th century. Modern wire rope was invented to service the iron mines in the 1830s by the German mining engineer Wilhelm Albert in the years between 1831 and 1834 for use in mining in the Harz Mountains in Clausthal. It was quickly accepted because it proved superior to ropes made of hemp or to metal chains, such as had been used before and soon found its way into diverse applications, including most notably, suspension bridges . The Innerste Valley Railway
5310-462: The near-vertical lodes straight down into the earth. Only a few metres down the ingress of water increased the difficulty of excavation considerably. Initially it was mopped up using men standing on ladders, the so-called Wasserknechten ("water servants"), with their leather buckets. Later, the introduction of horses and whims ( Göpel ) enabled larger quantities of water to be lifted. But horses were expensive and had to be changed every few hours. As
5400-491: The need for that continued to grow as mines became deeper, there were attempts early on, to dewater mines using drainage adits ( Wasserlösungsstollen ). This entailed driving tunnels from the mines to the valleys, through which water could drain away under gravity. The deeper the level of drainage, the longer the adit had to be. The longest of these tunnels is the Ernst August Adit, built in the mid-19th century, which
5490-583: The number of China's sister city relationships doubled. More than one-third of Chinese sister city relationships are with sister cities in the east Asia Pacific region. Town twinning is supported in Japan by the Council of Local Authorities for International Relations , a joint agency of local governments established by the Japanese government in 1988 (similar to Sister Cities International , its counterpart in
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#17327732843395580-410: The ponds can be used by swimmers during the summer months. The majority are also leased to local angling clubs. Mining activity in the Harz goes back to the 10th and 11th centuries. The first water wheels in the Harz were erected in the 13th century in the Pandelbach valley southeast of Seesen . At that time mining, including this early use of the so-called waterworks ( Wasserkünste ) for
5670-702: The power they generated had to be transmitted over several hundred metres to the mine itself using flat rods ( Feldgestänge ). Important mines also had a reciprocal water wheel which was used to provide power for transporting the ore and the material to be crushed. All water wheels were of the overshot type. Apart from a few reconstructions, the water wheels all disappeared during the last century. The 143 reservoirs or storage ponds, known as Teiche (singular: Teich ), were impounded using earth-fill dams . Dam heights varied between 4.0 and 15.0 metres; impoundment volumes were, on average, about 150,000 cubic metres. The ditches are supply channels almost parallel to
5760-461: The state purse, in 1991 the Harzwasserwerke was given the task of operating and maintaining 65 reservoirs, 70 kilometres of ditch and 20 kilometres of water tunnel. The Harzwasserwerke has delegated the management of the Upper Harz Water Regale to its Clausthal office. No public money is spent; the cost of maintenance, a seven-figure sum annually, has to be borne by the Harzwasserwerke through its sale of drinking water. In addition to
5850-408: The subsequent Mayor Emily Smith – had their names embroidered on a tablecloth along with the words "Little help is better than a lot of pity" and sent it, along with money (each donated six pence), to the people of Stalingrad. The tablecloth can now be seen at the Panorama Museum of the Battle of Stalingrad. The twinning between Coventry and Stalingrad was formalized in 1944 and, after the end of
5940-419: The term "ciudades hermanadas", which means "sister cities". Germany, Poland, and the Czech Republic each use Partnerstadt (German), miasto partnerskie (Polish) and partnerské město (Czech), which translate as "partner town" or "partner city". France uses ville jumelée (jumelage, twinned town or city), and Italy has gemellaggio (twinning) and comune gemellato (twinned municipality). In
6030-411: The term "sister cities" or "twin cities". In China, the term is 友好城市 (yǒuhǎo chéngshì – friendly cities). Sometimes, other government bodies enter into a twinning relationship, such as the agreement between the provinces of Hainan in China and Jeju in South Korea. The Douzelage is a town twinning association with one town from each of the member states of the European Union. Though
6120-454: The term is often used interchangeably with the term "friendship city", this may mean a relationship with a more limited scope in comparison to a sister city relationship, and friendship city relationships are mayor-to-mayor agreements. City diplomacy is a form of paradiplomacy that involves discussions between officials and residents of different cities. Often these cities will be located in different countries. As such, city diplomacy involves
6210-400: The terrain contours, with a very slight incline of around 1-2 per mille and are accompanied by an inspection path. The underground water tunnels of between 20 and 1000 metres long were the most expensive investments in the Upper Harz Water Regale. They were worth the cost however because of their low operating costs and high hydraulic capacity. Due to the sheer number of structures and
6300-431: The then Mayor of Coventry , Alfred Robert Grindlay , culminating in his renowned telegram to the people of Stalingrad (now Volgograd ) in 1942, the idea emerged as a way of establishing solidarity links between cities in allied countries that went through similar devastating events. The comradeship between the two cities continued, when again in response to the Battle of Stalingrad , 830 women in Coventry – led by
6390-418: The turn of the millennium that it became much more common. The first priority of those carrying out city diplomacy typically overlaps with the core aims of municipal government – improving the lives of local residents. Yet they will often collaborate with peers in other cities to work on issues of planet-wide concern, such as efforts to address climate change . The phrase "city diplomacy" is formally used in
6480-407: The war, similar links were established to foster friendship and understanding among former foes as an act of peace and reconciliation, with new twinnings between Coventry and German cities: Kiel as early as in 1947 and Dresden in 1956. In 1957, Coventry was officially twinned with Belgrade, even though the link actually dates back to 1953 when then Yugoslav Ambassador visited Coventry and offered
6570-599: The water over as many wheels as possible, it had to be collected, stored and routed around at the highest possible elevation. The technology of the time did not enable dams to be built with heights of more than about 15 metres. This meant that many small ponds had to be laid out rather than a few larger ones. By arranging the ponds in a cascade, water could be retained at a high elevation in order to drive as many water wheels as possible. A number of these pond cascades were built, comprising four to six ponds. The majority of water wheels were used to drive pumps. Occasionally,
6660-452: The water wheels, but into large, artificial, dammed ponds ( Teiche ) which acted as reservoirs, in order to ensure enough water was available for the wheels even in times of drought. From the bottom outlets of these ponds the water could be led into a ditch system in order to power the water wheels. Usually several wheels were arranged one after another, like a cascade, so that the water could be used to drive more than one wheel. In order to lead
6750-826: The workings of the United Cities and Local Governments and the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group , and is recognised by the USC Center on Public Diplomacy . A March 2014 debate in the British House of Lords acknowledged the evolution of town twinning into city diplomacy, particularly in matters of trade and tourism, but also in culture and post-conflict reconciliation. The importance of cities developing "their own foreign economic policies on trade, foreign investment, tourism and attracting foreign talent" has also been highlighted by
6840-424: The world. The facilities developed for the generation of water power have been placed under protection since 1978 as cultural monuments. The majority are still used, albeit nowadays their purpose is primarily to support rural conservation (the preservation of a historic cultural landscape), nature conservation , tourism and swimming . From a water management perspective, several of the reservoirs still play
6930-495: Was a regular exchange of experience and know-how between these regions. Nevertheless, the Upper Harz Water Regale, is the largest and most interconnected system of its kind in Europe, with significantly more dams and ditches as well as larger structures than all its counterparts elsewhere. Mines of Rammelsberg, Historic Town of Goslar and Upper Harz Water Management System UNESCO Official Website NESCO Official WebsiteU Twin towns and sister cities A sister city or
7020-586: Was also a factor until the construction of the Innerste Valley Railway . With the nationalisation of the mines on 1 January 1864 by the Kingdom of Hanover , not only did mining rights now transfer to the state, but also the rights to water usage. So the Kingdom of Hanover also claimed the Water Regale, which was first legally defined in the Prussian Water Law ( Preußisches Wassergesetz ) of 1913 in sections 16 and 381. Following
7110-576: Was between Paderborn , Germany, and Le Mans , France, in 836. Starting in 1905, Keighley in West Yorkshire, England, had a twinning arrangement with French communities Suresnes and Puteaux . The first recorded modern twinning agreement was between Keighley and Poix-du-Nord in Nord, France, in 1920 following the end of the World War I . This was initially referred to as an adoption of
7200-531: Was built from the 16th to 19th centuries to divert and store the water that drove the water wheels of the mines in the Upper Harz region of Germany. The term regale , here, refers to the granting of royal privileges or rights ( droit de régale ) in this case to permit the use of water for mining operations in the Harz mountains of Germany. The Upper Harz Water Regale is one of the largest and most important historic mining water management systems in
7290-574: Was controlled at the time and until 2020 by the military forces of Armenia and the unrecognised Republic of Artsakh . An attempt was made in 2003 by Preston city councillors in England to twin with the Palestinian town of Nablus in the name of solidarity. Turkey bans partnerships with any city in a country that recognizes the Armenian genocide . As a result, when Bulgaria recognized
7380-447: Was inaugurated in 1877 and extended to Altenau in 1914. The large station building and 70 other buildings in the town were destroyed in an air raid on 7 October 1944. 92 people lost their lives. Mining activity halted in 1930 because the ore deposits were exhausted. Today, there are large remains of mines in the surrounding Harz region, some of which are now museums . The railway line was closed in 1976. The former railway station, which
7470-414: Was needed. Although the Upper Harz, with an annual precipitation of over 1300 millimetres per year, received copious amounts of water, the mines often lay high up in the mountains close to the watersheds where there were only a few streams of any size. In addition the flow of mountain streams in the rocky terrain was very variable. It often only needed a few weeks of low rainfall for the water supply to
7560-580: Was originally a program of the National League of Cities , but it became a separate corporation in 1967 due to the growth and popularity of the program. Twin town cultural events include the annual National Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington, D.C., honoring Washington's twin relationship with Tokyo City . Many twinned towns developed business agreements with their partners. For example, Vermont 's Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream company opened
7650-452: Was rebuilt from 1961–1963 after being destroyed in 1944, houses the tourist information and the municipal library today. The Clausthal University of Technology was established in 1775 for the education of mining engineers . Today, it is a technical university for teaching engineering , natural science (especially chemistry, materials science and physics), computer science and business studies . 2006 local elections: The retail trade
7740-574: Was silver. From the 16th to the middle of the 19th centuries about 40–50% of the entire German silver production originated in the Upper Harz. The taxes raised from this contributed significantly to the revenue of the royal houses in Hanover and Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel and helped to secure their positions of power and influence within the Holy Roman Empire . Its lucrativeness justified a high commitment in terms of investment and effort. Hereby
7830-468: Was the first twinned city in Canada and the second in North America, while Denver, United States , twinned with Brest, France , was the second twinned city in the United States. Liberal, Kansas was twinned with Olney, United Kingdom in 1950, and the cities have run a joint Pancake Day race ever since. Littleton, Colorado, twinned with Bega, Australia, in 1961. Tashkent , the capital city of Uzbekistan,
7920-429: Was the higher discharge capacity. The tunnels descended the same height difference over a shorter distance and therefore had a steeper incline. Initially the underground sections were laboriously hewn out with hammer and chisel . Later gunpowder was used as an explosive, making the construction of water tunnels considerably easier and faster. Because most of the energy was needed to drain the mines of water and because
8010-459: Was time and again a limiting factor for the mines. The expansion of the water system was achieved by raising the existing pond dams, building new dams, laying new ditches and extending existing ditch runs. One example of the expansion of the Water Regale network was the optimisation of several ditch courses (the Dam Ditch, Upper and Lower Rosenhof Chutes), mainly during the 19th century, by
8100-458: Was twinned with Seattle , Washington, in 1973. Rochester, Minnesota , and Knebworth , UK, both centers for primary medical research, twinned in 1967. Ontario, California , has five sister cities around the world. They are Brockville, Ontario, Canada (since 1977); Guamúchil, Sinaloa, Mexico (since 1982); Mocorito, Sinaloa, Mexico (since 1982); Los Mochis, Sinaloa, Mexico (since 1988); and Winterthur, Canton of Zürich, Switzerland. Oakville, Ontario
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