Today, the Government of Catalonia, the Barcelona School of Industrial Engineering, Barcelona City Council, Barcelona Provincial Council, the Barcelona Metropolitan Area (AMB), and the Catalan association promoting time policies, the Time Use Initiative (TUI), have reaffirmed their commitment to time policies for the period 2024-2025.

The Catalan strategy as a global benchmark in time policies began in the period 2021-2023 and has already yielded results. The renewed joint strategy aims to consolidate what has been achieved and to develop new areas of work, in order to establish the right to time as a right for all citizens in Catalonia and worldwide, advancing towards a healthier, more egalitarian, more cohesive, efficient and sustainable society with a higher quality of life.

The strategy establishes four main objectives for the period 2024-2025:

1. Progress towards the right to time in the context of Catalonia
2. Consolidate Catalonia and Barcelona as international benchmarks for time policies
3. Continue exercising leadership in the global network for time policies at the local, metropolitan, and regional levels
4. Connect time policies and research, leveraging the fact that by the end of 2024, the first results of the Catalan Survey for the Right to Time will be available.

Time policies are starting to receive international recognition

In parallel, this week time policies have been presented as a case of inspiration at the World Governments Summit held in Dubai from 12-14 February, to which the Time Use Initiative was invited to showcase time policies and success stories, such as those from Catalonia.

The early years of this strategy have already yielded results

Over the past four years (2020-2023), Catalan administrations and the Time Use Initiative have collaborated successfully to place time policies on the political agenda of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, and internationally.

Over these four years, as a result of this collaboration, tangible results have been achieved:

1. Catalonia and Barcelona have become global benchmarks in time policies, as evidenced by the selection of Barcelona as the World Capital of Time Policies in 2022 and Catalonia’s hosting of Time Use Week four years running.
2. The right to time is starting to be included on the Catalan and international agenda, with the signing of the Barcelona Declaration on Time Policies, which has been endorsed by over 100 international organisations, including the European Economic and Social Committee.
3. At the Catalan level, thanks to the synergies of interinstitutional coordination, all Catalan institutions have reactivated and/or strengthened their own time policies.

These results have generated a unique and coordinated narrative from Catalan institutions that advocates for the right to time as a key right of citizens in the 21st century, aiming to eradicate time poverty and build a society with a healthier, more egalitarian, feminist, efficient, and sustainable organisation of time. This has been achieved through over 200 time policies promoted by Catalan institutions in collaboration with other entities and organisations from civil society and the business sector.

Two key international events scheduled to take place in Barcelona:

In 2024, Catalonia will host 2 key international events in time policies:

1. The first Time Policies Summer School, where public sector employees from around the world can practice implementing time policies and subsequently export these practices to their respective governments. This school will be organised by Barcelona City Council with the support of the Local and Regional Governments Time Network.
2. Time Use Week 2024, set to take place in October 2024 in Barcelona, will welcome over 1,000 attendees from across the globe. It will continue to feature awareness-raising events for the right to time throughout Catalonia.