Lucero Galvez • 2024 McNair Summer Research Symposium • July 8, 2024

Lucero Galvez

Class of 2025

Major: International Business

Mentor: David Turner, PhD

St. Mary’s University

Sister Cities: The Secret to More Sustainable Urban Transportation

Since the first establishment of Monterrey as a sister city in 1953 (Mexico), San Antonio has

managed to continue its efforts in gaining partnerships with cities like Gwangju, South Korea

(1981), Kumamoto, Japan (1987), and Darmstadt, Germany (2017). The city boasts 12

agreements with sister cities around the world, with 2 friendship cities in the making. Through

these partnerships, sister cities globally have made a commitment to collaborative efforts that

support the development of educational, cultural, economic, social, industrial, and economic

sectors. The focus now shifts to recent demands made by the UN regarding emission reduction.

To explore more sustainable approaches for public transportation in urban settings, this study

will provide a comparison between San Antonio and its sister cities when it comes to

predominant modes of transport, project outlines in each respective transportation department

and optimal examples of sustainable transportation. The goal of this research is to characterize

the extent of collaborative influence stemming from sister city agreements on existing

transportation policy, focusing on realistic projects that promote sustainability in the city of San

Antonio, Texas.

Keywords: Sister City, Transportation, San Antonio, Sustainability