Hillman, Mayer 1931–

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Hillman, Mayer 1931–

PERSONAL:

Born October 30, 1931; son of David and Annie Hillman; married Heidi Krott (a journalist), 1964; children: Josh, Saul. Education: University College London, 1954, 1956; Edinburgh University, Ph.D., 1970.

ADDRESSES:

Home— Hampstead, London, England. Office— Policy Studies Institute, 50 Hanson St., London W1W 6UP, England. E-mail— [email protected].

CAREER:

Writer, architect, social scientist, and public policy expert, especially on transport and environmental studies issues. Dinerman, Davison, and Hillman, architectural and planning practice, London, England, 1954-67; Policy Studies Institute, London, 1970-92, senior fellow emeritus, 1992—.

WRITINGS:

(With Irwin Henderson and Anne Whalley)Personal Mobility and Transport Policy, Policy Studies Institute (London, England), 1973.

(With Irwin Henderson, and Anne Whalley)Transport Realities and Planning Policy: Studies of Friction and Freedom in Daily Travel, Policy Studies Institute (London, England), 1976.

(With Anne Whalley)Fair Play for All: A Study of Access to Sport and Informal Recreation, Policy Studies Institute (London, England), 1977.

(With Anne Whalley)Walking Is Transport, Policy Studies Institute (London, England), 1979.

(With others)The Social Consequences of Rail Closures, Policy Studies Institute (London, England), 1980.

Energy and Personal Travel: Obstacles to Conservation, Policy Studies Institute (London, England), 1983.

Conservation's Contribution to UK Self-Sufficiency, Heinemann Educational Books (Exeter, NH), 1984.

(With Stephen Plowden)Danger on the Road: The Needless Scourge: A Study of Obstacles to Progress in Road Safety, Policy Studies Institute (London, England), 1984.

(With Alan Bollard)Less Fuel, More Jobs: The Promotion of Energy Conservation in Buildings, Policy Studies Institute (London, England), 1985.

Making the Most of Daylight Hours, Policy Studies Institute (London, England), 1988.

(With John Adams and John Whitelegg)One False Move: A Study of Children's Independent Mobility, Policy Studies Institute (London, England), 1990.

(With others)Reviving the City: Towards Sustainable Urban Development, Friends of the Earth with Policy Studies Institute (London, England), 1991.

Uses and Abuses of Transport and Road Safety Statistics in Policy Formation, Manchester Statistical Society (Manchester, England), 1991.

(With Anne Whalley)Cycling: Towards Health and Safety: A Report for the Brithish Medical Association, Oxford University Press (Oxford, England), 1992.

(With Paul Ekins and Robert Hutchison)Wealth beyond Measure: An Atlas of New Economics, Gaia Books (London, England), 1992, also published as The Gaia Atlas of Green Economics, Anchor Books (New York, NY), 1992.

Time for a Change: Setting Clocks One Hour Forward throughout the Year: A New Review of the Evidence, Policy Studies Institute (London, England), 1993.

Cycle Helmets: The Case For and Against, Policy Studies Institute (London, England), 1993.

Children, Transport, and the Quality of Life, Policy Studies Institute (London, England), 1993.

(With Stephen Plowden)Speed Control and Transport Policy, Policy Studies Institute (London, England), 1996.

Curbing Shorter Car Journeys: Prioritizing the Alternatives, Friends of the Earth (London, England), 1998.

How We Can Save the Planet, Penguin Books (London, England), 2004.

(With Tina Fawcett and Sudhir Chella Rajan)The Suicidal Planet: How to Prevent Global Climate Catastrophe, Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 2007.

Also contributor to books, including Essays in Local Government Enterprise, Merlin Press, 1965;The Greening of Urban Transport: Planning for Walking and Cycling in Western Cities, edited by Rodney Tolley, Belhaven Press, 1990, John Wiley, 1997;Research and Change in Urban Community Health, Avebury Press, 1995; and The Compact City: A Sustainable Urban Form?, Routledge (London, England), 1996. Author of the report Environmental Perspectives andthe Quality of Life, 1995-2010, United Kingdom: A report for the European Foundation for the Improvement of Working and Living Conditions,1990. Contributor to journals including Children's Geographies and RSA Journal.

SIDELIGHTS:

Mayer Hillman is senior fellow emeritus of the Policy Studies Institute in London, England, and is a noted writer, architect, and environmental public policies expert. He has written and/or edited numerous books on environmental policy and improvements, one of which he produced with Tina Fawcett, a researcher at the UK Energy Research Centre and the Environmental Change Institute at the University of Oxford. Hillman graduated from the Bartlett School of Architecture and the School of Planning at University College London, then went on to attend Edinburgh University, where he earned his doctorate. He was initially a practicing architect in London from 1954 to 1967, but went on to hone his skills in conjunction with his determination to improve the environment in various ways, from encouraging alternate, environmentally friendly forms of transportation such as cycling and walking, to advocating the switch to a permanent daylight savings schedule that would allow for a longer stretch of light in the evening, when people are able to use the time and save on power, in contrast to the brighter early mornings under standard time, when most people are asleep and unlikely to be using power in the same way. He is also in favor of promoting general heath, particularly in children, who should learn good habits early. Hillman maintains that good overall health is vital, both for individuals and for the planet on the whole, as the two are inextricably linked. The disease or destruction of one leads to the disease or destruction of the other, in a sort of chain reaction. Hillman's books include Transport Realities and Planning Policy: Studies of Friction and Freedom in Daily Travel; Fair Play for All: A Study of Access to Sport and Informal Recreation; Danger on the Road: The Needless Scourge: A Study of Obstacles to Progress in Road Safety; Making the Most of Daylight Hours; Children, Transport, and the Quality of Life; and How We Can Save the Planet.

Fawcett has similar concerns to Hillman, performing research into ways in which people can lower their personal carbon usage. She began her research as a doctoral candidate, during which time she investigated how carbon rationing might eventually effect a reduction in carbon dioxide emissions, thereby improving the atmosphere and slowing the progress of global warming over the United Kingdom. Her research looked at the study from not just environmental points of view, but also social, political, and moral, in an attempt to determine what roadblocks might exist to prevent the policy from advancing. She had previously worked at the Environmental Change Institute, during which time she had participated in many different studies dealing with ways in which altering household usage of carbon and energy might assist with waste management and emissions. She has written or cowritten several books on the subject, including Carbon UK, Lower Carbon Futures for European Households, and Investigating Carbon Rationing as a Policy for Reducing Carbon Emissions from UK Household Energy Use. Through all of her efforts, she stresses the need to shift away from what she refers to as "the throw-away culture" in an interview for Climatex Web site.

The Suicidal Planet: How to Prevent Global Climate Catastrophe, which Hillman wrote with Tina Fawcett and Sudhir Chella Rajan, paints a grim picture of the state of the planet. While the authors acknowledge that some small measures have been attempted to slow or halt the effects of global warming, they maintain that the situation has grown far too severe to be improved upon by such minor attempts to rectify the situation. Using charts and statistics,The Suicidal Planet illustrates how the ways in which human beings live and use their resources have set the planet on a disastrous course—one which only drastic measures have any hope of improving. There is a strong focus on the use of oil, the automobile culture—particularly in the United States, and the authors stress the need to radically reduce each person's rate of carbon emissions. The authors then go on to suggest that carbon limitations be set, with allowances set and tracked by federal governments in an effort to stem the destruction of the atmosphere. Colleen Mondor, in a review for Booklist, commented on the effect of the book on the reader, stating: "A lot of work went into the crafting of this book's arguments and the gathering of its wealth of information." A reviewer for Publishers Weekly called the book "a clear-eyed and well-documented overview of global warming, and an optimistic but practical plan for avoiding the worst of the damage," praising the writers for their honest and forthright approach to a topic that has frequently been minimized and made to seem less pressing than it is. In an interview with Anna Dembska for Publishers Weekly, Hillman explained the motivation behind the volume: "The primary purpose of this book is to alert the American public and decision makers to the hazards ahead if drastic action is not taken now. It's time to stop looking the other way, especially the U.S."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, February 1, 2007, Colleen Mondor, review of The Suicidal Planet: How to Prevent Global Climate Catastrophe, p. 9.

British Medical Journal, February 26, 1994, Daphne Gloag, review of Children, Transport, and the Quality of Life, p. 604; June 10, 2006, Ian Roberts, review of How We Can Save the Planet, p. 1398.

Employee Benefits, January, 2003, "Thrown by the Future? Predicting the Future Can Be a Dicey Business, but Corporate Success Often Means Constant Change, So Strategic Projections Can Keep You Ahead of the Game," p. 28.

Energy & Environmental Management, September 1, 2004, "Want to Save the Planet? Read On," p. 23.

New Scientist, July 24, 2004, "Take Notes Right Now," p. 55.

New Statesman, May 2, 1980, "Who Did What When the Train Stopped Coming?," p. 652; August 31, 1984, Mick Hamer, review of Danger on the Road: The Needless Scourge: A Study of Obstacles to Progress in Road Safety, p. 28.

Occupational Safety & Health, February, 1994, Pat Burling, review of Time for a Change: Setting Clocks One Hour Forward throughout the Year: A New Review of the Evidence, p. 12.

Publishers Weekly, February 10, 1992, review of The Gaia Atlas of Green Economics, p. 75; February 5, 2007, review of The Suicidal Planet, p. 49; February 26, 2007, "PW Talks with Mayer Hillman and Sudhir Challa Rajan: The Climate Challenge," p. 70.

Times Educational Supplement, September 27, 1991, Colin Ward, review of Reviving the City: Towards Sustainable Urban Development, p. 29.

Town and Country Planning, March, 1997, David Pike, review of Speed Control and Transport Policy, p. 96.

Town Planning Review, October, 1992, Ian Deans, review of Reviving the City, p. 448.