Allen Hickling

In the 1980s Hickling's work became closely linked to environmental policy and planning, which led him to set up his consultancy firm; Allen Hickling and Associates. The company collaborated with an international network of specialists working on the processes of planning, conflict resolution, and strategic choice, while providing services in action research, training, and facilitation. Hickling was employed by the Environment Directorates of the Dutch, German, French, Italian, Latvian, Estonian, Hungarian and British Governments, the OECD, and the European Commission, to facilitate the solving of complex problems at the highest levels by enabling politicians, professionals, managers, industry representatives, and special interest groups to work together interactively.

In the 1980s Hickling set up Endless Games, and partnered in Integrated Games. Both companies designed and produced add-on products for Fantasy Role-playing games (FRP) such as Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) and RuneQuest.

Hickling has had a lifelong passion for the sport of Cricket. He serves as president of the Long Itchington Cricket Club, of which he was one of the founding fathers in 1976. He is a qualified Umpire and Senior Coach with the England and Wales Cricket Board (Association of Cricket Officials) and (Coaches Association).

From 1971 to 1980 Hickling worked at the Institute of Operational Research (IOR), a unit of the Tavistock Institute of Human Relations, as a Senior Research Scientist. During his time at IOR, he was instrumental in developing the use of Strategic Choice Theory (a dynamic socio-technical approach to planning and decision making) to help diverse groups experiencing multi-faceted challenges reach consensus. In 1979 Hickling presented a paper titled Using Strategic Choice as a Framework for Communication at a one-day event, OR, Social Science, and Strategic Choice, held at the Royal Society, London, led by the Operational Research Society.

Hickling raced Production Sports Cars (TVR and Ginetta Cars) from 1962 to 1967 in Canada and the U.S., during which time he was a National Instructor with the Canadian Automobile Sport Clubs In 1965 he won his class in the Quebec Championship, and in 1966 he did it again coming third overall.

In 1959, Hickling received a Diploma of Architecture from The Royal West of England Academy School of Architecture (RWA) in Bristol, UK. In 1970, he received a master's degree in City Planning (MCP) as well as a master's degree in Architecture (MArch) from the Urban Design graduate program at the University of Pennsylvania.

In 1959 Hickling moved from the UK to Montréal, Canada, where he lived for 9 years. He joined the architectural firm Van Ginkel Associates as Chef de Bureau, working on the development of Downtown Montreal and Meadowvale, Ontario, a new town community for the newly incorporated City of Mississauga. In 1963 Hickling joined Mayerovitch & Bernstein as project architect on one of the interconnected buildings that make up Montreal's Underground City, a development linking offices, retail space, hotels and residential complexes to the city's entirely subterranean mass transit system—the Montreal Metro. During his time in Canada, he was also part of the small team that designed the Circuit Mont-Tremblant (race track).

David Allen Hickling (born May 29, 1934), known as Allen Hickling, is a retired Architect, Planning/Strategic Choice Process consultant, author, game designer, and an authority in the field of toy forts and castles.

Hickling is an authority on the subject of toy forts and castles and has spent 30 years researching the subject. Over this time he amassed one of the largest collections in the world - half of which now resides in a museum in Cyprus. He has written numerous articles in journals such as Toy Soldier Parade, Old Toy Soldier, and Plastic Warrior. Hickling has written the only reference book on the subject; Toy Forts and Castles: European-Made Toys of the 19th and 20th Centuries.