Specialty Fabrics Review August 2019 - 89

WORLD VIEWS

FOCUS

MicroSNAP is the twenty-fifth
concept car from Rinspeed AG, with
discussions already underway with
investors to put the car on the road-
literally. Photo: Rinspeed AG.

The urban future
Sustainability and biodiversity will be key to livable cities,
with new technologies leading the way.
BY MARIE O'MAHONY

ccording to the World Bank, city dwellers accounted for more than half the world's
total population in 2007, while the United Nations (UN) warns that by the middle
of this century they will account for two-thirds of the population. In May, the UN
(through the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem
Services) released a summary of its forthcoming Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity
and Ecosystem Services, presenting a stark picture of the impact of urban living on the
environment as well as on people. With a mass exodus back to rural living highly unlikely,
what should the cities of the future look like, and how can advanced, technical and smart
materials make a positive contribution to that future?
With many of the leading textile industry innovators exhibiting at Techtextil, Messe
Frankfurt, just days after the report summary was published, it provided an ideal opportunity
to gain some global perspective. All signs seem to indicate that mobility, in all its forms, is key.
"Economic exchange contributes to aggregate economic development, yet often is negotiated
between actors and institutions of unequal power, which influences the distribution of benefits
and long-term impacts." -UN Global Assessment Report

Inside the future
An interior view of the latest Rinspeed
AG microSNAP concept car, with fiber
and fabric from Schoeller Spinning
Group and Lenzing for Automotive

There has been a steadily growing demand for people and organizations that consume and
benefit financially from goods to assume a more equitable share of the environmental cost of
production, consumption, reuse and disposal of those goods. When additive manufacturing
first emerged, there was considerable excitement that it would lead to consumers being able
to order online and then print the product without having to leave home, eliminating the
need for shipping. While 3D printing is thriving, it has not always been in the ways imagined
in the early years, and home printing on demand has not happened so far.

Interiors. The car was exhibited at the
Schoeller booth during Techtextil 2019.
Photo: Marie O'Mahony.

AUTOMOTIVE ADJUSTMENTS
The Schoeller Spinning Group, headquartered in Austria, exhibited the latest Rinspeed
microSNAP concept car at its Techtextil booth this year. Swiss-based Rinspeed AG created
a design that addresses sustainability within the vehicle's construction as well as in its
envisaged use as a delivery service vehicle. The chassis and body of the car can be joined
and separated autonomously, so a chassis subject to faster wear and tear can be repaired and
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Specialty Fabrics Review August 2019

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