Uses of Time

» 200 world-leading organizations in time policies, including the Barcelona City Council, update their commitment and the new work plan of the Barcelona Declaration.
» The Barcelona City Council was one of the first institutions to sign this pioneering Declaration that in 2021 defined the commitment to work to guarantee the right to time for everyone, promoted by the initiative of the Local and Regional Governments Time Network.

Currently, the right to time is distributed unequally among citizens, which means that time poverty, in its different forms, is widespread in all countries and regions, as has been recognized by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE).

According to the European Parliament’s poverty report, in Europe, time poverty affects between 20-30% of the population with dependent persons in their care. This fact adds to a widespread discontent with the current time organization, where more than half of European workers report a high level of exhaustion (Stadista, 2022).

This unequal access to time and the social organization of time directly affects people’s health, equality between them, and individual and collective productivity, especially affecting people in the most precarious economic situation and women. It is estimated that between 1-2% of GDP is lost annually due to the consequences derived from lack of sleep.

To improve this situation, in October 2021, 75 world institutions that are leaders in time policies, including 15 Catalan ones, including the Barcelona City Council, signed a pioneering declaration, the Barcelona Declaration on Time Policies. This committed them to work together to make the right to time a right of citizenship, thus improving health, sustainability and equality between all people, implementing a joint work plan.

Among the first signatories were: the International Association for Time Use Research (IATUR), the group of workers of the European Economic and Social Council, cities such as Strasbourg, Milan and Montevideo, and 15 leading Catalan organizations in this field, including the Barcelona City Council, the Catalan Government, the Barcelona Provincial Council and the Barcelona Metropolitan Area.

On October 21, during the inauguration of Time Use Week 2024, the most relevant international event for the promotion of time policies, an account was given of what has been achieved so far and the new work plan for 2024-2026 was presented.

Raquel Gil, Councillor for Economic Promotion, Employment, Feminism and Democratic Memory of the Barcelona City Council, who participated in the inauguration, stated that “the commitment that we are making from the Barcelona City Council implies a profound social and economic transformation and that is precisely why it will only be possible if all the administrations are involved or, at least, a large majority and always with the collaboration of the productive organisations and all the economic and social agents.”

Two years later, most of the objectives of the 2022-2023 work plan have been met
The Barcelona Declaration Work Plan for 2022 and 2023 was committed to developing time policies and the right to time in two areas: the urban and regional area and the European area, having achieved the objectives set in that regard.

On the one hand, the World Capital of Time Policies distinction has been created, which allowed the Barcelona City Council to recognise its track record in promoting time policies, naming Barcelona the first World Capital of Time Policies for 2022, passing the baton to Bolzano in 2023 and Strasbourg in 2024, and Bogotá in 2025.

In this territorial context, urban and regional area, an Urban and Regional Time Agenda has also been developed, publishing good practices in time policies annually in terms work-life balance, mobility, governance of night time and democracy. As a result, 15 new international institutions have joined the Local and Regional Governments Time Network, such as Bogotá, Buenos Aires and the South Tyrol region.

At the European level, a proposal was submitted to the European Commission in 2022 for the abolition of the seasonal time change based on scientific evidence and a policy paper was created for the balanced organisation of decent working time also at international level, presented at Time Use Week 2023 and prepared by international experts. A document based on the Foundation Study for the Law on Time Use in the Spanish State (Ministry of Labour and Time Use Initiative, 2023) and the Guide to establishing a balanced organisation of working time (ILO, 2019).

In addition, progress has been made in recognising the right to time in the area of ​​equality, particularly defining the problem of time poverty and the implications of having more time of one’s own that can benefit citizens, introducing the debate directly into the United Nations system, as well as into other Latin American regional organisations.

The new work plan is updated and more than 100 new organizations have joined
After fully implementing the actions contemplated in the 2022-2023 Action Plan, the new action plan for the next years 2024-2026 sets objectives in four areas of work: 1) making the right to time effective from local and regional entities to improve equality and individual and collective well-being; 2) promoting the connection between the world of research on time uses and public time policies, especially now that we are facing a new wave of results from surveys on the time use; 3) implementing key actions to achieve a balanced organization of time dedicated to work and personal and family life; and 4) advancing the recognition of the right to time, especially in the area of ​​equality. Furthermore, the commitments are supported by more than 100 new organizations that have recently joined the agreement, including: the World Organization of United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG), the main global association working for the reduction of the working day (4 day week globally), as well as new cities, regions and pioneering organizations in the right to time.