Twin Cities

These cities have been in constant competition with each other since the late 19th century, each growing taller with the rise of the skyscraper.

What forces have driven them to battle to be the biggest and the best?

These cities have been in constant competition with each other since the late 19th century, each growing taller with the rise of the skyscraper.

What forces have driven them to battle to be the biggest and the best?

In 1960, Brasilia was inaugurated as the new capital of Brazil.

It had taken just three years to build in the virtually uninhabited interior of the country.

Why and how did it happen and what has been its impact on Rio?

Liverpool, once the second city of Empire, declined as shipbuilding ebbed away and has never quite recovered.

Manchester, on the other hand, has managed to regenerate itself with vitality and confidence.

Why have these two cities, twinned by the Industrial Revolution, fared so differently?

With the exception of tourism, Venice has pushed all of its commerce and most of its poor across the lagoon to Mestre.

Now Mestre, derided for years as the twin no one wanted to know, is developing an identity of its own.

Is a city a city without the lifeblood of business and development?

In 1713 Peter the Great moved his capital from Moscow to the Baltic at St Petersburg.

Both were forced into line during the communist regime, but today their rivalry is re-emerging, as President Putin has suggested that perhaps it is time to move some political power to the old capital.