» Barcelona is positioning itself as a world benchmark in time use policies and leading the way here with over 100 participating organisations from around the world, while acting as the official mouthpiece of the Local and Regional Governments Network
» This capital status has its own seal for identifying every action to be carried out throughout the year and which will be applied to every communication event and product
Barcelona is the first World Capital of Time Use Policies. Its capital status was created by the Local and Regional Governments Network for Time Use Policies with the aim of raising greater awareness of and providing greater visibility to time use polices and extending their positive impact on society, enterprises and the planet. Barcelona is positioning itself as a world benchmark in time use policies and leading the way here with over 100 participating organisations from around the world, while acting as the official mouthpiece of the Local and Regional Governments Network.
The various initiatives establishing the 2022-2023 World Capital status were presented today during an institutional ceremony held at Barcelona City Hall’s Saló de Cent room. Taking part in the ceremony were the Councillor for Commerce, Markets, Internal Regulations and Tax, Montserrat Ballarín; and the Chief Executive, Sara Berbel, and the Secretary of the Network of Local and Regional Governments for Time Use Policies, Marta Junqué. Other attendees included: the Director General of Care, Organisation of Time and Equity in the Workplace at the Catalan government, Núria Vergés; the Secretary for Children, Teenagers and Youth, Alexis Serra; the Councillor for Gender Equality and Feminism and Timetable Reforms at Sant Boi de Llobregat City Council, Ascensión Domínguez, the Chair of the Barcelona Time Use Initiative for Healthy Society, Joan Francesc Pont.
During the event, the Councillor for Commerce, Markets, Internal Regulations and Tax, Montserrat Ballarín, remarked that “the current post-pandemic context highlights the importance of having time use policies for contributing to a healthy and egalitarian social and economic reactivation. Policies and initiatives are needed to promote more sustainable and efficient uses of time. Collaboration is needed from enterprises and all our economic and social players. The key to success is shared responsibility, a city commitment with all the players involved. The reality of work and use of time transcends the lifespan of municipalities in the metropolitan area. This is therefore about shared challenges between cities in the metropolitan area that necessarily compel a network strategy for working on the metropolitan dimension of work and use of time”.
During the presentation, the Chief Executive at Barcelona City Council, Sara Berbel, declared that “the World Capital status we are commencing today will focus on the impetus of the second generation of time use policies, those that go beyond work-life balance and co-responsibility (despite including them) since they are aimed at changing the organisation of time use in its entirety. It will make progress in the hybrid work models which, properly regulated, can enable greater flexibility and even a significant improvement to the environment and pollution levels; in proximity and the “15-minute city”; in the technological impact and the need for digital disconnection as well as in eliminating inequalities in social-class and gender uses of time, with the aim of increasing our society’s well-being and health”.
The Secretary of the Local and Regional Governments Network for Time Use Policies, Marta Junqué, underscored how “the world capital project for time use policies is designed to provide more visibility to time use policies and to raise awareness of their positive impact on society. We at the Network are proud of having unanimously chosen Barcelona as the first capital, given that its global leadership will help to present time use policies to other cities throughout the world and bring them to the citizens of Barcelona and Catalonia”.
The capital status has its own seal for identifying every action to be carried out throughout the year and which will be applied to every communication event and product. The seal symbolises the three key aspects: time, cities and regions, and world. It is a literal and transparent representation of the world today, a society of cultures governed by its same hand of time, which frames how we function. The seal expresses our wish to turn around uses of time, so we can improve our lives and our management of own personal and social uses of time and thereby improve the clock that makes the world go round. The seal is designed by Monty Ralph Design.
You can download the Capitality seal here
Barcelona, the first World Capital of Time Use Policies
Time use policies promote changes in social organisation which are aimed at satisfying the needs of the management of time in everyday life, the goal being to find solutions that improve the quality of people’s lives.
On the local level, the capital status will help to bring visibility to the city’s citizens and enterprises, Barcelona’s global leadership and recognition in time use policies; and to present and carry out awareness-raising initiatives on Right to Time, as well as municipal policies for bringing citizens more efficient, fairer, healthier and more sustainable time uses.
The aims behind this capital status are to guarantee an active network for sharing time use policies, by promoting the Local and Regional Governments Time Network, and to consolidate Barcelona as a benchmark in time use policies for its research ecosystem, by strengthening Time Use Week as an international promotional space. And for innovating and influencing global discussions and debates on time use policies too, by contributing to a healthier and more egalitarian social and economic reactivation.
For further information: barcelona.cat/usosdeltemps
