DC’s growth to COSMOPOLITAN METROPOLIS from CAPITAL CITY, completed.

The “Metro map” region is the new “Capital City.” What does it all mean?

Currently, Washington, DC is a burgeoning hot mess of more people, places, and things than ever before. Foremost, there’s massive construction happening seemingly everywhere, and rapidly growing and gentrifying population frightening/strengthening the resolve of the city’s once overwhelmingly African-American population. Moreover, there’s now Michelin star-rated world-class dining options, consistently championship-level athletics, and world class live performance venues, too. Everything seems to be happening everywhere. However, what’s maybe most intriguing is what’s happening insofar as how the city is handling this “mess.” While many of us in the Nation’s Capital have likely been distracted, there’s been an expansion of what the idea of a “cosmopolitan mega-metropolis” expanding from a “city” and “Metropolitan area” can mean for Washington, DC.

Maybe the best place to begin understanding Washington, DC is to understand the argument that, for the past four decades, DC has been much less a traditional city and much…