City staff working session to promote public time policies

» The second edition of the Time Public Policy Report was presented, which included a total of 75 actions promoted by the City Council in 2023.
» Key representatives of the Barcelona City Council met to reflect and develop a time policy.

On 26 June, at the Saló de Cròniques, the draft Public Policies Report 2023, which will soon be published, was presented to Barcelona City Council staff.

The event was attended by various directors, representatives of departments and municipal organizations of the City Council, who promote time policies aimed at creating a new, healthier, more equal, efficient and sustainable time culture, with both internal and external impact.

Maria Rengel, Director of Feminism and LGBTI Services, was responsible for welcoming the participants working day and presentation of the second report on the City Council’s public policy on working hoursThe Director provided a brief overview of over twenty years of time policy in the City Council and reported on the change in leadership of time policy from the previous Time and Gender Policy Directorate to the current Feminism and LGTBI Services Directorate.

The main theme of this report was also discussed.:strengthening the mainstream of time policy in the council and the need for further progress in implementing the time perspective in public policies promoted by the City Council.

Laura de Caralt, a technician from the Directorate of Feminism and LGTBI Services, presented several the most important qualitative and quantitative results of the 75 actions promoted by the city council in 2023.In this space, the issue of future challenges of time policy was also raised, which should constitute guidelines for the urban strategy and, as evidenced by the various statements of the reference persons present at the session, are adapted to the rules applicable in different urban areas.

In this context, Pilar Lleonart, Head of the City’s Educational Programs Department, presented the project Game space 0-99which is part of the Play in Public Spaces Plan with a horizon of 2030 within the Barcelona Playable City work line. The project, whose key objectives are the social aspect and the connection with the natural environment from the perspective of understanding the space and time of play as a civil right.

The presentation of the report was also attended by Míriam Martínez Camacho, technician from the Directorate of Feminism and LGTBI Services, who highlighted the methodological process of creating the report, specifying the objectives related to the data collection process and aimed at developing a time policy, as well as the need to create interdepartmental synergies.

At last, a space has opened up for the exchange of ideas on time policy.

Key agents agreed on the need to promote mainstreaming time politics in the city council, as well as strengthening the approach Intersectional perspective in design, implementation and evaluation. In this respect, special emphasis was placed on the need for integration cross-cultural perspective AND address factors of social inequality that are particularly related to time poverty.

Grounding time policy with more pragmatic perspective was also one of the key demands of the agents, along with a greater extension of time policy in the areas of culture, childhood and health.

The session at the Saló de Cròniques therefore became an indispensable space for exchange and creating synergy in terms of municipal workers’ time policies; crucial to further developing public policies that promote a healthier, more equitable, efficient and sustainable organisation and city.