No matter how long you have lived in Central Texas, you can see that the region is experiencing some growing pains.

Our traffic congestion grows more intense and frustrating each day. Higher housing prices and the cost of public services have led to increasing tax burdens. We are still challenged to create good jobs at good wages throughout the metropolitan area. And the twin hallmarks of our famed quality of life — the region's outstanding natural beauty and cultural vitality — seem continually threatened by the pressures of growth.

Throughout this decade, it has become clear that these are not merely the inevitable consequences of growth, but a result of the way we have grown — or, more precisely, the way we have sprawled. The Envision Central Texas regional vision for our area calls for a substantial change from these status quo development patterns. So does our effort to reinvent and diversify our transportation system.

We will hear this message anew from the best minds thinking about today's urban issues as the Congress for the New Urbanism holds its annual conference in Austin Thursday through Saturday. The theme is "New Urbanism and the Booming Metropolis."

Despite the "new" in its name, the ideas behind New Urbanism are actually quite old.

Great cities, past and present, feature dense and diverse populations, neighborhoods with mixed uses, multiple modes of transport and substantial investments in the public realm. New Urbanism argues that these hallmarks of urban life — from which America has largely turned away since World War II — offer the best strategies for creating livable, sustainable and prosperous communities.

Austin, like many Sunbelt cities, was barely a "city" back when the traditional urban model last held sway, in the 1920s. In the past 80 years, we have matured into one of America's major urban areas, known throughout the world.

But our growth pattern followed the postwar model — cookie-cutter homes at low densities, zoning that separates homes from jobs and shopping, near-total dependence on cars and highways for every aspect of life, and underinvestment in the street-grids, parks and civic institutions that bring people together.

Today, Central Texans clearly want alternatives to that model. But the pace of growth means changes have to be made quickly if we are to succeed. We've already seen some changes: a boom in downtown living, major mixed-use and transit-oriented communities from Mueller to The Domain to Leander, and new proposals and projects springing up along the upcoming Capital Metro commuter rail line.

Even so, the message of New Urbanism, and the value hosting CNU, speaks to the biggest challenges and goals of Central Texas.

Consider the Envision Central Texas preferred growth scenario — developed with the input of more than 12,000 residents. It does not simply contemplate having a few places in the region where one can live a more urban lifestyle. Rather, the vision is for all of our region's upcoming growth — the eventual doubling of our population, more than 1 million new Central Texans.

That means bringing urban densities and mixes of uses not just to downtown Austin and Mueller, but to communities throughout the region, without damaging those areas' unique character or overburdening the services needed to support their growth.

That is the kind of challenge where the skills and expertise brought to Austin by CNU can be of great value.

The same can be said about our transportation struggles. Central Texans want a truly comprehensive, regional transportation system, with free roads, toll roads, transit options and the ability to meet some mobility needs on a bicycle or on foot.

That kind of system cannot happen unless it is linked with the land-use models that support it. Transit needs densities that can support the investment. Pedestrian mobility does not just mean building sidewalks — it means putting jobs and shops and homes close enough together to make walking practical and enjoyable.

We can make a comprehensive mobility system a reality, just as we can make our regional vision a reality, by reclaiming urbanism as the model for how we grow and build.

The conference will give Austin opportunities to learn how that can be done — and to teach the lessons we've learned to other booming cities. I urge local leaders and engaged citizens take advantage of an extraordinary opportunity to think and learn about what Central Texas can truly become.