- The Strasbourg Metropolitan City has organised on 28 and 29 November 2024, at the European Parliament, the World Capital of Time’s central event “Taking care of others, taking care of oneself: towards a right to time(s) in Europe”.
- After Barcelona in Spain and Bolzano in Italy, the City of Strasbourg has led as the World Capital of Time 2024, developing a program that includes events and actions to raise citizens’ awareness about the importance of time in their lives.
As part of this program, on 28 and 29 November, the City of Strasbourg organised, with the French network Tempo Territorial, the World Capital of Time main event at the European Parliament, “Taking care of others, taking care of oneself: towards a right to time in Europe?”, gathering French and European local authorities and experts to share practices and experiences for the promotion of the right to time for self-care and caregiving.
Two days of debates, conferences and workshops to discuss the legitimacy of a right to time(s) to take care of oneself and one’s loved ones, but also to bring to the European level the issues of care for a more social and more equitable Europe, especially highlighting the need to include time policies on the European agenda.
Through the organisation of public space, public transport and the organisation of working time, the development of innovative local services and the adaptation of nightlife, the City of Strasbourg has been working for several years on this fundamental right which is the right to time. “I am very pleased with this recognition for Strasbourg. As the European capital, this status as the world capital of time policies will allow us to promote them on the European stage. European law can do a lot to guarantee the right to free time, time to engage in society, to take care of oneself or one’s loved ones. This is a fundamental contemporary issue”, said Marina Lafay, deputy mayor in charge of temporal policies at the Strasbourg municipality and president of the Tempo territorial network.
The World Capital of Time Policies is the award intended to generate more awareness and to provide more visibility to time policies and their positive impacts on society, organisations, and the planet. It is granted by the Local and Regional Governments Time Network in the frame of the Time4All program, with a duration of one year, and its General Assembly must approve it after presenting an action plan for the upcoming term. In this event, most of the members of the Local and Regional Government’s Time Network have participated as well as the members of the Time4All project, funded by the European Commission.
Marta Junqué, Time Use Initiative director, representing the Local and Regional Time Network, participated in the event by introducing the time perspective in a panel discussion titled “The major challenges of care in France and Europe” on Thursday afternoon.
The next World Capital of Time will be Bogotá, after being elected at the last General Assembly of the Network this October during the Time Use Week in Barcelona.
