Uses of Time

» Catalonia will once again be the meeting point where representatives of municipalities, regions, international organisations, the social and productive fabric and the research community from around the world will reflect on how to advance the right to time for all people.
» The conferences will be held between October 21 and 25, and, in the central event, “Present and future of the Barcelona Declaration on Time Policies: advancing the right to time for all”, the signatory entities of the Barcelona Declaration will reaffirm their commitment to guarantee the right to time through a new Action Plan for the period 2024-2026.
» Barcelona City Council will participate in the General Assembly of the World Network of Local and Regional Governments for Time Policies, of which it is a member, and will present the Barcelona Time Agreement and the NUST Network – Network of Companies for a New Working Time, as examples of transversal time policies (22/10). In addition, the event aimed at the social and economic fabric, will share the tools offered by Barcelona City Council for more rational and co-responsible time uses (23/10).

Time Use Week is the most relevant international event for promoting knowledge and inspirational cases on time policies. This year’s edition, the tenth, will be held between October 21 and 25, in a hybrid format, in Barcelona and throughout Catalonia, under the title “Advancing the right to time for all”. Researchers, political institutions, social organisations and citizens from all over the world will participate and promote the debate, from their different fields of knowledge and experience, to achieve a better social organisation of time.

The central event of TUW 2024 “Present and future of the Barcelona Declaration on Time Policies: advancing the right to time for all”, will focus on the update of the Barcelona Declaration on Time Policies and the reaffirmation of the commitment to the right to time of the signatory entities. A commitment that will be made effective with the presentation of a joint work plan by the more than 100 organisations and institutions committed to improving the organisation of time, for the period 2024-2026.

The Barcelona Declaration on Time Policies is the first political declaration that, since 2021, recognises the importance of the right to time and time policies, proposing this as the solution to the time poverty that affects between 20 and 34% of the population in Catalonia and Spain. Recognizing this is essential to correcting time constraints and time poverty, as well as encouraging healthier, more equal, efficient and sustainable uses of time.

Time Use Week 2024: open to collaboration from all over the world
Time Use Week 2024 aims to emphasize addressing the right to time holistically. On the one hand, for a specialized public, appealing to institutions, social and productive fabric and the world of research; on the other, this year betting on including activities and actions that also reach a non-specialized public throughout Catalonia.

Thus, and for the first time, this year the TUW will award the Time Use Week Collaborating Organization badge to those organizations that launch an initiative to promote the right to time within the framework of the Week. Local administrations, research groups, organizations from the social or economic fabric and entities of all kinds are invited to co-organize activities to promote a better organization of time and advance the right to time in their area, in their city or organization during the days of the TUW, ie they will be included in the final program of the event.

In addition to the institutional programme, Time Use Week 2024 will continue to decentralise throughout Catalonia so that all territories can contribute ideas and practices to the right to time and the concept can be implemented in the most local realities.

Another novelty of this edition is the International Visits Programme, organised by the Time Use Initiative and Catalunya Internacional, where representatives of organisations that are leading in the time policies’ work, or that are just beginning to do so, will come to Catalonia to learn first-hand about the programmes and services developed by the different Catalan institutions, pioneers in local time policies, such as those of Barcelona City Council.

A programme for all audiences
In 2024, the tenth edition of Time Use Week will feature more than 40 speakers from various fields covering time policies from around the world: representatives of international organisations stand out, such as Ugo Lachapelle, President of the International Association for Research on Time Use (IATUR), Jessamyn Encarnación, advisor to UN Women, Petra Dzurovcinova, Head of Global Strategic Innovation at UNDP or Jordi Nofre, research professor at NOVA University of Lisbon and coordinator of the LXNIGHTS research group.

The event will also include the participation of institutional representatives such as Marina Lafay, Deputy Mayor of Strasbourg (current World Capital of Time Policies), Pamela Quiñones Sánchez, Representative of Bogotá and Head of the World Capital of Time Policies 2025 or Juha Haaramo, Coordinator of the Time Use Survey (2023), of the National Institute of Statistics of Finland, and there will be elected representatives of the institutions that promote Time Use Week and time policies in Catalonia: the Government of Catalonia, the Barcelona City Council, the Metropolitan Area of ​​Barcelona and the Barcelona Provincial Council.

On behalf of Barcelona City Council, there will be the presence of Raquel Gil, Councilor for Economic Promotion, Work, Feminism and Democratic Memory of Barcelona City Council, at the opening ceremony on October 21. Furthermore, the pioneering experiences in time policies of the council will play a prominent role in the meeting of the World Network of Local and Regional Governments for Time Policies on 22 October, where Míriam Martínez Camacho, Feminism and LGBT technician, will explain the Barcelona Time Agreement and the NUST Network as examples of transversal time policies. Finally, on 23 October, dedicated to consolidating the right to time in the workplace, the tools for more rational and co-responsible use of time in the business field offered by Barcelona City Council will be presented by the companies Mercabarna, Iterem and Acefat, all three members of the NUST Network.

This event will take place at the Montjuïc venue of Fira de Barcelona, ​​​​as part of the BIZ Barcelona, ​​a space organized by Barcelona Activa so that businesses, SMEs and self-employed people can access the knowledge and tools to find solutions that allow them to grow their businesses, as well as connect with experts and other professionals.

Time Use Week 2024 will be held in a hybrid format: in person in Barcelona, ​​​​on October 21 and 22 at the Paraninfo of the Diputació de Barcelona, ​​​​and on October 23 at the BIZ Barcelona at the Barcelona Montjuïc Fair and virtually.

Registrations are now open in person and virtually on the event website.

The Government of Catalonia, the Barcelona City Council, the Barcelona Provincial Council, the Barcelona Metropolitan Area (AMB) and the association in defence of time policies and the right to time, the Time Use Initiative (TUI), are the promoters of the new edition of Time Use Week 2024.