The city of Hedrett, along with its twin city Gadrin, was the only major non-Tarasin settlement on the surface of Cularin. The other non-native cities were built on platforms, which towered over the jungle.
Scout Reidi Artom helped found Gadrin, the first alien towns in Cularin, on the west bank of the Estauril River, near the location of the Hiironi irstat. The spaceport was built to the other side of the river, where there was nothing. Later settlements in that side of the Estauril would become a second town, Hedrett. Contrarily to what happened in Gadrin, Hedrett's growth followed an urban planning in grid, and used a greater amount of prefab buildings, imported from other planets, instead of wooden buildings, made with local resources.
After Hedrett was founded on the opposite side of the river, Artom built a great bridge to connect them. Further expansions of the cities, some of them using prefab buildings imported from other planets, reached the jungle. This led the native Tarasins to oppose to new buildings, and eventually to the Tarasin Revolt. The Revolt ended with a treaty, the Cularin Compact, recognizing the Tarasins's rights and the obligations of the aliens to respect the local ecology.
To avoid further expansions to the jungle, further cities in Cularin would not be built on the surface, but over it: The platform cities could expand without affecting the jungle. The building of the platform cities reduced the importance of Gadrin and Hedrett, and their populations declined. Despite this, the "twin city" was sometimes viewed as the unofficial capital of Cularin.
As Artom used her wealth and fame to improve the development of Cularin and to transform it in an advanced planet comparable to the Core, she was well-loved in Gadrin, Hedrett and the platform cities.
Though the other people of the Cularin system tended to see Gadrin and Hedrett as one city, the two towns had their own distinctive flavors, architecturally and politically - and in fact were rivals in many senses. At some point, for instance, Hedrett annexed the spaceport that Gadrin had built in what was by then Hedrett soil. Gadrin considered the creation of a new spaceport but, as Hedrett's was comfortably near, the population showed no interest in that. Hedrett used the spaceport to import cultural novelties before Gadrin could reach them.
Hedrett was ruled by a town council, and its citizens were very involved in the political process. They enjoyed elections for the empty seats. and spoke with their representatives. The council was formed by nine senior counselors plus twelve junior counselors, whose vote counted 50% of a senior counselor's; any person could take part in debates, although not vote in them. The main senior counselor of Hedrett in 31 BBY was Westa Impeveri. His election was a surprise, and rival Karid Blakken accused him of rigging the election, but Impeveri found to be innocent.
Around 32 BBY, Hedrett had a population of 19,600, including some 2,900 Tarasins. Gadrin had more inhabitants, but a lesser Tarasins population.