Uses of Time

On April 5, 2022, Barcelona was officially presented as the World Capital of Time Policies. A program of events has been prepared, which will take place throughout the year, aimed at promoting changes in social organization that improve the needs of time management in daily life and find solutions to enhance quality of life.

Among the main objectives of this capital designation, which reaffirms the city as a global reference in time policies, the following stand out:

• Deploy the Barcelona Declaration on Time Policies, signed by 75 world institutions, organizations, and research centers, which calls for recognizing the right to time as a citizen's right, distributed in a balanced, equitable, healthy, and efficient manner. This deployment aims to develop and implement time policies that enhance people's quality of life, addressing aspects such as the impact of digitization and teleworking, the gender gap in time poverty, work-life balance, healthier schedules, and sustainable mobility. The goal of developing the declaration is to have a roadmap for 2022-2024 to ensure that the European Union includes specific recommendations on the right to time and formalizes the Urban Agenda on Time.

• Energize the Network of Local and Regional Governments for Time Policies, composed of various Catalan, French, and Italian local and regional entities, with the aim of sharing knowledge, exchanging experiences and best practices from cities and regions, and collectively advancing the agenda of time policies through joint work and shared experiences.

• Prepare the Time Use Week for 2022 and 2023, the international platform for promoting time policies.