The Time Use Week 2020 , ready to place time policies on the local and international agenda

In recent years, thanks to the impulse of institutions and civil society, time-use policies have become a part of the current Catalan political agenda. Since 2014, the Setmana dels Horaris (Timetables Week) has been organized, which is now internationalizing, becoming a space for international reference on time policies, based in Catalonia and with capital Barcelona.

With the impulse and collaboration of the Barcelona City Council, the Generalitat de Catalunya, the Barcelona Metropolitan Area and the Barcelona Provincial Council, the Barcelona Time Use Initiative for a Healthy Society (BTUI) aspires to make Catalonia a world meeting point for time-use policies and to get the EU and the UN to make recommendations for the promotion of world-wide time policies in order to promote the regulation of new time uses as a key and cross-cutting factor for a healthier life everywhere.

The Time Use Week 2020 aims primarily to connect public institutions, organizations, civil society and research to move forward together towards a better time use, to share experiences and knowledge between different disciplines and areas of action working around time use as well as to impact on the international media and political agenda and the discourse of time policies so to prioritize these policies in the global agenda.

This year’s Time Use Week is therefore a multidisciplinary debate (with research experts, organizations, companies and institutions) to answer key questions about time policies, based on a common goal: building a global discourse on time policies.

It is expected to get the participation of more than a hundred representatives of municipalities throughout Catalonia and become a space to share the experience of these municipalities with the experiences of other municipalities in Spain and Europe. It is also intended to raise awareness among the general public about the importance of healthier time use, as well as sharing experiences with representatives of the main European networks working on time use.

The content of the TUW2020 will be framed in 9 specific topics, such as the political and legislative measures that drive time policies and the SDGs or Europeans’ dilemma to eliminate winter / summer time. It will also include, as one of the most innovative issues, the analysis of how the COVID-19 crisis has impacted the time use, focusing specifically on remote work and the debate around the 4-day work week.

The TUW2020 will include events at the local level, with the participation of various institutions, such as a meeting of Catalan municipalities, an international round table on local policies on time use, as well as a dialogue on good practices with leading Catalan companies in the introduction of time mesures to make visible the fact that private companies also play a key role in better time use.

It will also have 5 round tables in English and more than 20 international speakers. Among the confirmed participants we highlight Joeri Minnen, representative of the International Association for Research on the Use of Time (IATUR); Jean-Yves Boulin, co-coordinator of the Network of European Cities for Time Use or Ticia Luengo, co-founder of Betere Tijden and international activist for a better time use.

This event will serve as preparation for the I International Time Use Week 2021 which will take place from 25 to 31 October 2021 in Barcelona and will include the annual Congress of the IATUR (International Association for Time Use Research), in which more than 200 researchers from all over the world will participate, and where the Barcelona Declaration on Time Policies will also be signed.

THE POSTER:

The poster for the 7th edition of Setmana dels Horaris / Time Use Week, with the motto Building a new global agenda, designed by Xavi Morta, incorporates a change of image compared to previous Timetable Weeks, more modern and fresh, reflecting the new global approach and connection with the non-specialised public of the Week. In addition to that, it provides data of interest on time use in our society, such as the unequal time spent by men and women on household work, the percentage of hours spent on paid work compared to that spent on cooking, or sleeping or engaging in leisure and social activities, which help to highlight the importance of time policies in our daily lives.