C N E D E R G dc 2040
Imagining What The Nation’s Capital Will Look Like In 20 Years by Andrew Giambrone
T
he bullet train pulls into Union Station around noon. I look up from my laptop-phone and see people grabbing their Smart Bags before shuffling to exit the brightly lit car. The novelty of high-tech luggage never gets old for me, what with its air-compression and efficient-storage capabilities. Perhaps it’s the journalist in me who enjoys observing the outlines of these bags, the shape of people’s stuff, and wondering what’s inside. I’m back in DC for a media conference, slated for tomorrow. It’s been a few years since I last visited, for a series of talks at several independent bookstores across the city. There are more such stores now than I recall there being when I lived here, from 2014 to 2020—the former the year I moved to the city and started covering it as a report-
illustration: Shawn Henderson
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E a s t o f t h e R i v er D C N e w s . c o m
er; the latter the year coronavirus hit and upended much of the world as we knew it. I’m surprised by this business expansion, given online retailers’ outright dominance in book sales, not to mention the fact that most of us are pretty much constantly glued to our laptop-phones. Then again, it’s 2040, and our remaining bookstores largely serve as event/co-working spaces that sell audiobooks, food, and drink, in addition to the usual literature. At some stores, drones fetch ordered books from nearby storage facilities, as customers sip on shots of espresso and glasses of wine. Bless the readerly Washingtonians who keep the checks coming! I walk into the main hall of Union Station by way of the Amtrak concourse, redesigned 10 years ago. The con-
course is much bigger and more welcoming than it used to be, though the project was delayed for years and went over budget by tens of millions of dollars. Same as it ever was in Washington. Except that it’s not. So much has changed about this city, and I can’t help but feel both amazed and a little wistful about the differences.
Tent Encampments and A Reliable Metro
The main hall is as beautiful as ever, with its arched ceilings and perched statues. Now, though, the floor space is like a bazaar. It’s occupied by vendors whom the station’s directors brought in to enliven the atrium or, as activists alleged,
