The "Responsible Growth Task Force" recently issued its report to Gov. M. Jodi Rell and it envisions a state developing far differently in the future than was the case for the second half of the last century and the first decade of this one.

For the last four decades development has meant a flight away from the urban centers. The result is a sprawling suburbia entirely dependent on the automobile. Developers have built ever-larger homes on ever-larger building lots, chopping away at farms and woodlands to make way for this lifestyle.

Zoning was established in such a way to segment it all - residential here, commercial over there. No neighborhood stores, no local diners, no offices.

So to build, care for and fill their large homes and maintain their large lots suburban dwellers drive to large shopping centers filled with big-box megastores. The simplest tasks - taking the kids to Little League, picking up a few groceries, getting a bite to eat - require long drives in the car.

Meanwhile, our city centers have suffered, left with empty storefronts, substandard housing and higher crime rates. In terms of energy use, pollution, creating a sense of community, protecting our natural resources, maintaining our agrarian culture, it has been a time of irresponsible growth.

In its report to the governor the task force encourages reuse and rehabilitation of existing infrastructure. That means rebuilding Connecticut's cities. It calls for coordinating housing with the location of jobs, services and mass transportation.

The task force says Connecticut needs to concentrate development and stop using up what little open space it has left. It calls for developing "walkable districts" with a mix of residential, commercial, educational and recreational services. The panel wants to revitalize the state's existing village centers.

Such a strategy would protect natural resources, wildlife habitats and historic landscapes. It urges regional planning and regional control of "projects of regional significance," meaning major projects, which if done right can promote responsible growth and if done wrong can be detrimental to an entire region.

It is a great vision, a necessary vision, but it will be a major task to get there. Connecticut does not take well to change. Its governance and property tax structure is predicated on an every-town-for-itself attitude. Big-box shopping centers mean tax revenue. Single-family homes on two-acre lots mean low impact on municipal services, keeping town costs down.

Conversely, the kind of dense development proposed by smart growth means more kids in schools, and so higher property taxes. Mixed-used communities with residential and commercial development are foreign to the zoning model drilled into the collective consciousness of town officials for decades. And the idea of towns granting regional control over major projects planned within their borders? Forget about it.

Real responsible growth will take real change. Reforming the tax system to end the over-dependence on property-tax revenues. Providing the financial help and incentives to rebuild the cities and bring people back to the downtowns. Making mass transit user-friendly. Creating regional government.

But changing mindsets may be the biggest challenge. Accepting the premise that perhaps big homes on big lots and shopping at big-box stores was not the culmination of cultural advancement after all.