The new social and economic context, shaped by the Covid-19 pandemic, globalisation and the digitalisation of jobs, offers a chance to innovate in time policies.

Time Use Week 2020 is intended as a meeting space for multi-disciplinary debate, where experts in research, organisations, business and institutions can construct a global discourse on time policies which bring greater citizen well-being and which are in line with the new socio-economic context and the 2030 Agenda.

Time Use Week 2020 is an being organised by the Barcelona Time Use Initiative for a Healthy Society (BTUI), with the collaboration of the City Council, the Government of Catalonia, the Barcelona Metropolitan Area and Barcelona Provincial Council. The internationalisation process will be consolidated in 2021 when Barcelona hosts a face-to-face edition of the meeting, giving the city a leading role when it comes to time organisation.

Four subject areas

The congress is organised around four subject areas:

• Labour relations: Debate here will cover the impact of Covid-19 on time policies in the world of work and the organisation of work, taking into consideration the generalisation of teleworking. It also includes a session on good business practice in Catalonia in times of Covid-19.
• International: The main topic here will be the EU’s decision to eliminate the changing of clocks in 2021. A round table will debate which time zone suits Spain best and the impact this decision has on people’s well-being.
  There will also be a round table on time policy within the 2030 Agenda.
• Research into time policies: This section will present the results of research on the impact of Covid-19 in people’s time use, with special emphasis on children and young people. The research in question was conducted by the likes of Eurofound, the Harvard Business School, the London Business School and the Government of Catalonia’s Opinion Studies Centre (CEO).
• Local time policies: This section includes a meeting between Catalan municipalities and talks on time policies at a local level, with participation from the local councils of Sant Boi, Argentona, Girona, Lleida and Barcelona, along with those of European cities such as Bolzano and Rennes, pioneers in the introduction of time policies at a local level.

Registration and programme

Time Use Week 2020 will be held in Catalan and English. All sessions can be followed live and will be translated into Catalan or English accordingly. The event will be broadcast using a unique digital platform. To access the platform, users should register here.

See the full programme for Time Use Week 2020.