12 November 2001: For Immediate Release
In the new book Ahead of Time: Birthday Letters to Mayer Hillman, 15 prominent UK thinkers, academics and innovators pay a remarkable tribute to one of the best known - and most outspoken - social and environmental researchers of our time. Principled, dogged and outspoken, Mayer Hillman is an inspiration to many who question the wisdom of current policies in the fields of his studies on planning, transport, safety, health, energy conservation, and the environment.
Ahead of Time contains a series of letters to Mayer Hillman on his 70th birthday, but they are dated 20 years ahead, and are about " the world as it is in 2021, and the world we hoped - or feared - it would become". The authors set out predictions and assessments of what might be: some cheerful and optimistic; others bleaker, with stark warnings about the future.
The letters in Ahead of Time have been written as a celebration of Mayer's unique combination of qualities: "great intellectual productivity and originality, tenacity in argument and in pursuing his chosen themes, and a willingness to speak truth to power". They also serve to remind readers that many of the problems which he has identified in his research over more than 30 years still remain. The authors of these thought-provoking letters call for more debate leading to a clearer understanding of global and local environmental issues, more commitment to improving the quality of life for future generations, and a greater sense of urgency.
Mayer Hillman
Dr Hillman is Senior Fellow Emeritus of the Policy Studies Institute, where he was previously Head of Environment and Quality of Life. His many books and publications (some with co-authors) include Towards the Linear New Town (1965), Personal Mobility and Transport Policy (1973), The Social Consequences of Rail Closures (1980), Danger on the Road: The Needless Scourge (1984), Making the Most of Daylight Hours (1988), Reviving the City (1991), Cycling: Towards Health and Safety (1992), Wealth Beyond Measure: an atlas of new economics (1992), Children, Transport and the Quality of Life (1993), and Speed Control and Transport Policy (1996).
Birthday letters from