Uses of Time

Barcelona hosted Time Use Week from October 24 to 28, where more than 150 speakers and participants from different universities, institutions, companies and organizations from around the world took part to reflect on the uses of time, the inequalities it generates and whether the right to time should be a right of the 21st century. 

Time Use Week, co-organized by the Barcelona City Council, the Generalitat de Catalunya, the Diputació de Barcelona, the Barcelona Metropolitan Area and the Barcelona Time Use Initiative for Healthy Society, took place in Barcelona between October 24 and 28, 2022.

Held at the MediaTIC, it has allowed the exchange of ideas and proposals on time policies between municipalities around the world, researchers, civil and citizen entities, and social agents. In total, more than 600 people from all over the world have registered and participated in face-to-face and online format.

The Time Use Week debates have dealt with different topics, among which five major conclusions stand out:

• There is a broad consensus to move towards the right to (own) time as a right for all citizens. This concept appears in the Barcelona Declaration for Time Policies (2021), signed by the city of Barcelona, and is shared by several Catalan and international institutions.
• The Spanish Ministry of Labor’s announced “Law on the Use of Time” is a key opportunity to seek a new balance between the different uses of time that are fundamental to life: paid work, care, leisure and rest.
• A common plan to end the time change in Europe is presented, a document resulting from the joint work of experts and signatories of the Barcelona Declaration. The proposal seeks to establish a permanent time that adapts to the geographical situation of each European country and to put an end to the time change, and will be presented to the European Commission and the Member States for their consideration.
• The interest of Latin American municipalities in developing time policies has been noted, as was heard during the General Assembly of the Network of Local and Regional Governments for Time Policies, this year hosted by Barcelona as Capital and member of the Network’s Executive Council. Bogota and Buenos Aires are some of the Latin American cities that have joined the network.
• In Catalan terms, the Catalan Network for the Right of Time was presented, a space to seek synergies between public institutions, social agents, organizations and researchers in Catalonia to advance towards the right of time throughout the Catalan territory.

Barcelona, pioneer in the promotion of time policies 

The city of Barcelona, in its role as host and World Capital of Time Policies, has had a prominent role in the week, starting with the intervention of Ms. Montserrat Ballarín, Councilor for Trade, Markets, Consumption, Internal Regime and Finance, who remarked that “in a context of new work scenarios, a good organization of time can have a positive impact on efficiency, sustainability and energy use”. 

The following day, October 25, Barcelona hosted the first World Meeting of Municipalities and Regions for Time Policies, chaired by Laura Perez, Councilor for Social Rights, Global Justice, Feminism and LGTBI, and with the participation of Sonia Ruiz, Director of Gender Services and Time Policies. In addition, the Dossier “Time for Life: a contextualized reflection on the sustainable city”, commissioned by the City Council as part of the Dossiers of Time collection, was presented. To close the day, all the municipalities participating in the meeting enjoyed an official reception at the Salón de Cròniques of the Barcelona City Council. Among the municipalities present in the city were Strasbourg, Bolzano, Bogota and Buenos Aires, among others.

October 26 was dedicated to the debate and proposals for the future on the organization of working time, where the NUST Network, made up of companies in the city committed to improving the organization of time, played a leading role. Within this framework, the debate “The organization of time: the emerging vector of inequalities in the labor market” was held, where the experiences of companies from Barcelona and Bilbao, from the DENBBORA Network, were heard, with the moderation of the Commissioner for the Promotion of Employment and Policies against Labor Precariousness, Raquel Gil. As a result of the discussion, the different strategies to respond to the demands for greater flexibility and teleworking that have multiplied as a result of the COVID-19 shock have been noted.

October 27th and 28th have been full of events in Catalan key, and the Catalan Network for the Right of Time, of which the City Council is part both as a municipality and through the NUST Network, has been presented. The 27th closed with a debate on “Time policies for Catalonia as a whole”, where Emilia Pallàs, Executive Director of Proximity Socioeconomic Development of Barcelona Activa, pointed out the key challenges to follow in this right to time in Catalonia.