- The Local and Regional Time Network, which brings together the world’s leading cities working on the right to time, has awarded Sant Boi de Llobregat the recognition that distinguishes innovative cities in the implementation of time policies.
- Sant Boi has been recognized both for its trajectory in time policies, which began in 2011, and for its innovation in this field, and has recently presented the ConciliAcció Network, a key space to implement policies that favor conciliation in companies.
- Barcelona (Catalonia/Spain), Strasbourg (France), Bolzano (Italy) and Bogotá (Colombia) have been World Capitals in Time Policies in previous years.
Sant Boi de Llobregat has been chosen as World Capital of Time Policies 2026. The decision was taken by the Local and Regional Time Network, gathered in its annual General Assembly in Barcelona, on 14th October, within the framework of Time Use Week. The recognition of the Capital status, granted to those member municipalities of the Network that are implementing pioneering policies in time use, distinguishes the trajectory of the City Council of Sant Boi de Llobregat in making the right to time a pillar of collective well-being.
The Local and Regional Time Network is an international alliance of cities, metropolitan areas and regions representing more than 90 million people around the world. Its objective is to make the right to time a reality through the exchange and sharing of practical cases of time policies. It has fifty institutional members in Europe, America and Asia, including Sant Boi de Llobregat, Barcelona, Milan, Strasbourg, Bogotá and Istanbul.
The election ceremony was held in front of forty representatives of European and Latin American cities and regions convened for the occasion. In this context, the Capital status passed from the city of Bogotá, represented by Laura Tami, councilor for women in Bogotá, to Sant Boi de Llobregat, represented by Maria Valencia Granados, deputy mayor of the Area for Cohesive and Transformative City, and Sensi Domínguez Recio, councilor for time policies, work and vocational training, gender equality and feminism, people with disabilities and LGTBI+.
Recognition of Sant Boi’s trajectory and innovation in time policies
Sant Boi de Llobregat’s candidacy highlights a consolidated trajectory since 2011 with initiatives such as the Sant Boi Time Pact or, more recently, the ConciliAcció Network and a vision of the future focused on using working time as a lever to attract and retain talent together with the productive sector. In addition, the Capital status should allow the creation of synergies with other Catalan and Ibero-American institutions to reinforce the impulse of the right to time beyond municipal borders.
Thus, the central objective of the 2026 Capital will be the creation of an exchange forum on the right to time for medium-sized municipalities. This initiative will seek to adapt time policies, often designed for large capitals, to the reality of medium-sized cities, which have fewer resources to face joint challenges. Other actions planned in the work plan for 2026 also include raising citizen and business awareness, creating a map of services for equity and care, and making visible the impact of urban planning with a time perspective, such as the concept of the 15-minute city.
The recognition of the World Capital of Time Policies
The Capital status was established as a recognition in 2022, when the city of Barcelona was named by the Local and Regional Time Network as the first Capital. Since then, several cities in the Network have assumed their role as Capital as a recognition and promotion of specific time policies: Barcelona laid the foundations of the Capital status and focused on guaranteeing the right to time for citizens, especially in childhood; Bolzano, Capital of 2023, was the first medium-sized municipality to be recognized and contributed collaboration with research and data centres; Strasbourg, Capital of 2024, provided the European vision with a direct link to the European Parliament and how the use of time specifically affects women; and finally Bogotá, Capital of 2025, opted to work on the right to time from a Latin American perspective and especially for caregivers.
The Capital status of Sant Boi de Llobregat gives continuity to the collaboration between Catalan institutions and the Ibero-American cooperation, and emphasises the vision of a medium-sized city that can connect with the reality of many other municipalities in the world. The Mayor of Sant Boi, Lluïsa Moret, has highlighted that “Sant Boi wants to lead a new phase in the international reflection on time. We believe that the reorganisation of working time can be key,” she added, “for work-life balance, business efficiency, and the attraction of talent, especially in intermediate cities, where quality of life is a strategic asset. For this reason,” she indicated, “we are promoting a public-private approach that encourages the real transformation of the labour market, in collaboration with the business sector and local commerce.” Lluïsa Moret states that “our goal is to build cities of balanced time, where people can live, work, care, and enjoy without the clock being a barrier to well-being.”
