The Barcelona City Council publishes a study that applies chronobiology to the design of local public policies
Chronobiology is the science that studies biological rhythms and their individual and social consequences. The latest Time Study published by Barcelona City Council, “The Circadian City”, written by Diego Golombek, aims to move us towards a city aligned with the rhythms of people and the planet and to explore the public policies necessary to optimise our biological and social times.
The studies and reports on time policies published by the Barcelona City Council deal in depth and from a more academic format with various issues related to time and the city, both at a local, supra-local and international level.
In this case, the study “The circadian city. Influence of biological rhythms and clocks on health and society. Chronobiology, biological rhythms and public policies”, puts on the table the need to move towards a city model that takes into account our rhythms. This approach is done through the science that studies how our biological clock measures and marks our biological times and how these condition our lives at the individual and social level: chronobiology.
“Its influence on working life, on school and physical performance or the scheduling of tasks and trips, as well as on multiple aspects of medicine (including the schedules for taking medication), is enormous and we are only just beginning to understand it,” explains Dr. Golombek in his introduction.
Diego Golombek, a graduate and doctor in Biology from the University of Buenos Aires, is a senior researcher at the National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET) of Argentina and a full professor at the University of San Andrés (where he leads the Interdisciplinary Time Laboratory), presents the study in 9 chapters.
In these, through chronobiology, he analyses topics such as sleep, work and school schedules, the design of our cities, nighttime street lighting, and the importance of being in the natural time zone. He also introduces concepts such as “social jet lag,” which describes the time lag or discomfort that a person suffers when their biological clock schedule does not coincide with their social schedule. This phenomenon must be addressed individually and socially, according to the author.
Chronobiology and public policies
The study thus proposes an approach to public policies from the perspective of a circadian city, which adapts its functioning to our natural circadian rhythms, thus optimizing our biological and social times. This would result in an improvement in our well-being and a more efficient and healthy functioning of cities. According to the author, a circadian city takes into account the right to time and the right to a life that is more friendly to our body and its rhythms.