ABSTRACT
Analysing functional, cultural and institutional integration in Newcastle and Gateshead over time suggests an ongoing process, wherein inter-twin relationships are dynamic. A new organisation, the Newcastle and Gateshead Initiative, was established to oversee the bid, which was intended to increase the location's ability to participate in a context of inter-urban competition among UK and European cities; largely for tourism audiences. Robert Colls describes Tyneside's modern history as characterised by fluctuating fortunes, and this theme emerged from when Emperor Hadrian built a bridge over the Tyne, roughly at the location of the present Swing Bridge between Newcastle and Gateshead, to help defend the Roman Empire's northern boundary. With the County Council's disappearance, although functional integration continued, it seems that the institutional and cultural integration was undermined and the local authorities started going it alone. Long typical twin cities due to their functional interaction, Newcastle and Gateshead's cultural and institutional emergence as twin cities was instigated in 1998 and lasted until 2011.
