Uses of Time

» The joint strategy includes the three institutions that had already signed the strategy in 2020, the Government of Catalonia, the Barcelona City Council, and the Barcelona Provincial Council, along with the Time Use Initiative, and adds the Barcelona Metropolitan Area.

» As a result of the previous strategy, Catalonia and Barcelona have become global benchmarks in time policies, as demonstrated by the selection of Barcelona as the World Capital in Time Policies in 2022 and the celebration of the Time Use Week for four consecutive years in Catalonia.

» This collaboration allows progress towards the right to time for everyone and consolidates Catalonia as a global benchmark in time policies, through the organization of the international meeting Time Use Week in 2024 and 2025 and the deployment of the global network’s work plan for time policies at the local, metropolitan, and regional levels.

On February 14th, at the Industrial School of Barcelona, the Government of Catalonia, the Barcelona City Council, the Barcelona Provincial Council, the Barcelona Metropolitan Area (AMB), and the Catalan association promoting time policies, the Time Use Initiative (TUI), reaffirmed their commitment to time policies for the period 2024-2025. This strategy began during the period 2021-2023 and has already harvested crops. Now, the renewed joint strategy aims to consolidate all that has been achieved and deploy new areas of work to establish the right to time as a right for all citizens in Catalonia and the world, advancing towards a healthier, more equitable, higher quality of life, more cohesive, efficient, and sustainable society. 

The event counted with the participation of Núria Vergés Bosch, Director General of Care, Time Organization, and Equity in Work of the Department of Equality and Feminisms of the Government of Catalonia, Raquel Gil, Councilor for Economic Promotion, Work, Feminisms, and Democratic Memory of the Barcelona City Council, Alba Barnusell, President Deputy of the Area of Social Sustainability, Life Cycle, and Community of the Barcelona Provincial Council, Gemma Badia, CEO of Social Policies and Equality of the AMB, and Joan-Francesc Pont, President of the TUI, who presented the framework agreement for inter-institutional collaboration of the four Catalan institutions with the TUI. 

This agreement establishes four major objectives for the period 2024-2025:

1. Advance towards the right to time in the Catalan sphere, promoting and coordinating the time policies of each institution, and internationally, to achieve the 2030 vision, deploying the Barcelona Declaration on Time Policies and defining its action plan for 2024-2027.
2. Consolidate Catalonia, the province of Barcelona, the city of Barcelona, and its metropolitan area of influence, as international benchmarks in time policies, through the international time meeting Time Use Week.
   
3. Continue to exercise leadership in the global network for time policies at the local, metropolitan, and regional levels.
   
4. Connect time policies and research, taking advantage of the fact that by the end of 2024, the first results of the Catalan Survey for the Right to Time will be available.

During the event, Raquel Gil, Councilor for Economic Promotion, Work, Feminisms, and Democratic Memory of the Barcelona City Council, intervened. Gil emphasized that “with shared responsibility, networking, and exchange of good practices, we are committed to a joint strategy to consolidate a profound social and economic transformation.” “The objectives of the agreement,” she added, “are crucial to consolidate the successes achieved so far and to promote new areas of work that allow us to advance towards a healthier, more sustainable, efficient, and equitable society, a better city to live and work in.”

Representatives of different international organizations also participated in the event via video, thanking the Catalan institutions for their leadership in the right to time and welcoming the new strategy. Among the participants were Marina Lafay, Councilor of Strasbourg, Carl Honoré, spokesperson for the Slow movement, and Ignace Glorieux, President of the IATUR.

2 key international events to be held in Barcelona. In 2024, Barcelona will host 2 key international events in time policies:

• The first Summer School on Time Policies, where public sector professionals from around the world can be trained on how to implement time policies and export them to their respective governments. This school will be organized by the Barcelona City Council with the support of the World Network of Local and Regional Governments for Time Policies.
• Time Use Week 2024, in October 2024, where more than 1,000 people from around the world are expected to attend, will be held in Barcelona and will continue to have awareness-raising events for the right to time in Catalonia as a whole.