WHO WE ARE

The Barcelona Time Use Initiative for a Healthy Society (BTUI) is the global initiative promoting time policies and the right to time. It is a non-profit organisation operating world-wide, with its headquarters in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Due to its history, it has a special focus on the European context, but is currently working towards implementing time policies in new regions, such as Latin America. Its main objective is to encourage a public discussion on the different uses of time. By doing so, the aim is to improve social time organisation as a key element for progress — it is essential for a society, its companies, and its organisations. In fact, improving the way time is organised can have direct effects on health, equality, efficiency, sustainability, and democracy.

​The Initiative continues with the legacy from the work of several non-profit, like-minded organisations. A direct link can be traced with 2017’s Catalan Initiative for Schedules Reform, which succeeded in involving more than 100 regional organisations from all sectors —including labour unions and employers’ organisations— in order for Catalan schedules to be rethought. In 2019, the Initiative was internationalised in order to connect knowledge creation and acquired experiences in reforming schedules in the region with the world. The aim was to create a working network with global experts and main public institutions and private actors that were also involved in improving time use.