LOCAL AND REGIONAL TIME POLICIES
Time organisation is a complex area that requires coordination between many social stakeholders, public institutions, and civil society. Furthermore, it often is an interdisciplinary field affecting our daily life — it therefore needs to be implemented and assessed at a very direct level. Usually, such an approach is better achieved in the context of what is known as urban policies or, in the context of time policies, has been named as “harmonization of city times” (from the Italian armonizzazione dei tempi delle citta). In order to better aknowledge the different realities that can be found around the globe, and especifically in Europe and the Americas, a more suitable naming would be to speak of local and regional time policies.
The BTU has a long history of working with such a framework. It is the current Secretariat of the Local and Regional Governments TIME Network, the meeting point for global municipalities, metropolises, and regions committed with time organisation. Having in mind that such governments have multiple responsibilities towards their citizens, the BTUI is aimed at maintaining a constructive forum where local and regional stakeholders can find inspiration and knowledge for evidence-based public time policies. Such a commitment has been recognised by international institutions, such as the European Union, under the name of Time4All project.
It has three main objectives:
- Deepening the cooperation and exchange between decision-makers in municipalities and regions that would like to put forward innovative time policies. Among other actions, the BTUI is responsible for managing an open, public database of local and regional good practices related with improving time use.
- Promoting time policies between European municipalities and regions, creating a new European narrative on the right to time. In order to do so, the BTUI fosters open meeting points for public officials and policy officers under the framework of the Local and Regional Time Agenda.
- Promoting citizen engagement in defining, implementing and evaluating time policies, as they are their final recipients.
