Uses of Time

• Barcelona City Council is part of the executive board of the Metropolitan Time Pact and the Catalan Network for the Right to Time. 
• The participation in these spaces is the result of the long trajectory of Barcelona’s commitment to the right to time and of inter-institutional collaboration

On March 28, 2023, the Metropolitan Council of the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona (AMB, hereafter) approved the Metropolitan Pact for the Right to Time. It sets a framework for the development of time policies that commits the AMB, and the metropolitan municipalities that adhere to it, to develop policies related to management and the right to time.

This Pact, valid until the year 2026, has been developed together with the Barcelona Time Use Initiative for a Healthy Society (BTUI) and the councils that are part of its executive board: the Barcelona City Council, Esplugues de Llobregat City Council, Sant Boi de Llobregat City Council and Sant Cugat del Vallès City Council.

Barcelona created its Time Agreement in 2014. Within this framework, there are currently more than 250 affiliated entities and companies developing actions in the field of time policies, which can be consulted on our website.

The Metropolitan Pact of Time thus becomes a road map for the AMB, and the metropolitan municipalities that adhere to it, to develop the Barcelona Declaration on Time Policies. Some of the lines of action identified, among others, are:

• Collection of information and data standardization about time uses.
• Promotion of dissemination tools and joint communication campaigns for all the municipalities of the metropolis, to raise awareness among citizens, organizations, and metropolitan companies about the importance of time uses and its impact on the life balance, encompassing personal, work and family time of citizens.
• Foster, support, and give resources, to metropolitan municipalities to implement time policies.

The commitment to time policies, however, has not only been strengthened from a metropolitan point of view, but Barcelona City Council has also joined the Catalan Network for the Right to Time, a territorial entity. That organism, created by the Catalan Government, integrates the social and productive fabric, local entities and research institutions in the field of time.

The purpose of the Network is to advance the right to time for all citizens and achieve a more balanced and fair organization of time throughout Catalonia.

In this regard, the network works to create and disseminate knowledge about the organization of time from a gender perspective; to facilitate the exchange of experiences to generate social transformations; and to encourage collaboration between key agents in Catalonia in order to work to ensure the right to time for all citizens.

Beyond the territorial scope of both spaces, the work of the Barcelona City Council involves continuing to promote time policies in Barcelona to move towards a healthier, more egalitarian, more efficient, and more sustainable society. Barcelona City Council appreciates the two initiatives, which certify the interest in time policies and their strength in the metropolitan and Catalan area, a bet that the City Council has been making for more than 25 years.