Editing Ballarat (section)

===Urban structure===
{{see also|Ballarat Central}}
[[File:Australia Victoria Ballarat City location map.svg|thumb|Map of the urban area (grey) and the extent of the municipal area]]
The city is home to nationally significant heritage structures. These include the [[Ballarat Botanical Gardens]] (established 1857),<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nattrust.com.au/trust_register/search_the_register/ballarat_botanic_gardens|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120323074402/http://www.nattrust.com.au/trust_register/search_the_register/ballarat_botanic_gardens|title=BALLARAT BOTANIC GARDENS|work=National Trust of Australia (Victoria)Nattrust.com.au.|archive-date=23 March 2012}}</ref> with the greatest concentration of public statuary,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cometolifeballarat.com/visit/experience-ballarat/lakes,-parks-and-gardens/ballarat-botanical-gardens.aspx|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120325193004/http://www.cometolifeballarat.com/visit/experience-ballarat/lakes%2C-parks-and-gardens/ballarat-botanical-gardens.aspx|archive-date=25 March 2012|title=Balarat Public Gardens|url-status=dead}}</ref> the official [[Prime Ministers Avenue]], the longest running lyric theatre building (Her Majesty's Theatre, established 1875),<ref name="ReferenceA">''Her Maj: A History of Her Majesty's Theatre, Ballarat'' by Peter Freund with Val Sarah {{ISBN|978-0-9757483-1-2}}.</ref> the first municipal observatory, established 1886,<ref>[http://observatory.ballarat.net/ Ballaarat Astronomical Society] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110724201611/http://observatory.ballarat.net/ |date=24 July 2011 }}. Observatory.ballarat.net. Retrieved 18 August 2011.</ref> and the earliest and longest war memorial avenue (the [[Avenue of Honour]], established between 1917 and 1919).<ref>[http://monumentaustralia.org.au/themes/conflict/ww1 Monuments and Memorials within Australia associated with World War One]. Monumentaustralia.org.au. Retrieved 18 August 2011.</ref>

Ballarat is a primarily low-rise city. The City of Ballarat defines two [[activity centre|Major Activity Centre]]s within the urban area – the Central Business District (CBD) and Wendouree with a high concentration of business, retail and community function based primarily on the [[Melbourne 2030]] planning model and a further 11 neighbourhood activity centres.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ballarat.vic.gov.au/media/991206/ballarat_c151_panel_report.pdf|title=Ballarat Panel Report|access-date=16 May 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170317222144/http://www.ballarat.vic.gov.au/media/991206/ballarat_c151_panel_report.pdf|archive-date=17 March 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref> The tallest building in urban Ballarat is the seven-storey Henry Bolte wing of the Ballarat Base Hospital (1994). Beyond the central area, urban Ballarat extends into several suburban areas with a mixture of housing styles. Predominant styles are 19th-century villas, Victorian terraces,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.australianterrace.com/terraced-houses-in/victoria/ballarat/|title=Ballarat|work=Australian Terrace Houses|access-date=22 April 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140529172500/http://www.australianterrace.com/terraced-houses-in/victoria/ballarat/|archive-date=29 May 2014|url-status=dead}}</ref> Federation homes and [[Georgian architecture|Georgian]] red brick homes. Settlement patterns around Ballarat consist of small villages and country towns, some with less than a few thousand people.

The central business district (located in [[Ballarat Central]]) is a large mixed-use office and retail district bounded to the north by railway lines, to the west by Drummond Street, to the south to Grant Street and to the east by Princes Street and spanning the floodplain of the Yarrowee River. Lydiard, Sturt Streets, Armstrong, Doveton, Dana Street and Bridge Street (known as Bridge Mall) along with the historic centre of East Ballarat—Main Street and Bakery Hill have retained stands of commercial and civic buildings of state and national heritage significance.

The inner established suburbs were initially laid out around the key mining areas and include [[Ballarat East, Victoria|Ballarat East]], [[Bakery Hill, Victoria|Bakery Hill]], [[Golden Point, Victoria|Golden Point]], [[Soldiers Hill, Victoria|Soldiers Hill]], [[Black Hill, Ballarat|Black Hill]], [[Brown Hill, Victoria|Brown Hill]], [[Eureka, Victoria|Eureka]], [[Canadian, Victoria|Canadian]], [[Mount Pleasant, Victoria|Mount Pleasant]], [[Redan, Victoria|Redan]], [[Sebastopol, Victoria|Sebastopol]] and [[Newington, Victoria|Newington]].

The post gold rush era has seen a boom in expansion, extending the [[conurbation]] north, south and west. To the west, Ballarat has expanded West to [[Lucas, Victoria|Lucas]], [[Alfredton, Victoria|Alfredton]], [[Delacombe, Victoria|Delacombe]] To The North West [[Wendouree, Victoria|Wendouree]], Wendouree West and [[Miners Rest, Victoria|Miners Rest]] To the north it has expanded to [[Ballarat North, Victoria|Ballarat North]], [[Invermay Park, Victoria|Invermay Park]],<ref name="id.com.au">{{cite web|url=http://profile.id.com.au/ballarat/about?WebID=130|title=About the profile areas – Ballarat North – Invermay Park – profile.id|work=id.com.au|access-date=23 October 2016|archive-date=24 October 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161024022919/http://profile.id.com.au/ballarat/about?WebID=130|url-status=dead}}</ref> [[Invermay, Victoria]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.whereis.com/vic/invermay-3352|title=Map of Invermay, VIC 3352 – Whereis®|work=whereis.com}}</ref> Invermay and [[Nerrina, Victoria|Nerrina]]; to the east to [[Warrenheip, Victoria|Warrenheip]] and south to [[Sebastopol, Victoria|Sebastopol]], [[Mount Clear, Victoria|Mount Clear]] and [[Mount Helen, Victoria|Mount Helen]] with the urban area encroaching the large town of [[Buninyong, Victoria|Buninyong]].

Wendouree is currently the only major suburban activity centre with a large indoor shopping mall—Stockland Shopping Centre (expanded in 2007<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.stockland.com.au/assets/shopping-centres_vic/DEV24467_WEN_FlashTower.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110706112544/http://www.stockland.com.au/assets/shopping-centres_vic/DEV24467_WEN_FlashTower.pdf|title=STOCKLAND WENDOUREE SHOPPING CENTRE REDEVELOPMENT|archive-date=6 July 2011}}</ref>) and also has a number of surrounding retail parks including a strip shopping centre along Howitt Street including the large retail chain [[Harvey Norman]]. Elsewhere are small suburban hubs with supermarkets such as [[IGA (supermarkets)]] and small stretches of shopfronts.

Unlike Melbourne, Ballarat does not have a defined [[urban growth boundary]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dse.vic.gov.au/melbourne2030online/content/policies_initiatives/02a_policy21.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040205194600/http://www.dse.vic.gov.au/melbourne2030online/content/policies_initiatives/02a_policy21.html|title=Establish an urban growth boundary to set clear limits to metropolitan Melbourne's outward development|archive-date=5 February 2004}}</ref> This has put continuing pressure on the city council to approve development applications for subdivisions outside of the city fringe. In response to lobbying by landholders, the Ballarat West Growth Area Plan, a major greenfield land development plan, was prepared and has approved by the city and state government to allow for planned fringe communities consisting of 14,000 new homes and up to 40,000 new residents, effectively doubling the city's urban area by extending the urban sprawl from Sebastopol, Delacombe and Alfredton west toward [[Bonshaw, Victoria|Bonshaw]], [[Smythes Creek, Victoria|Smythes Creek]] and [[Cardigan, Victoria|Cardigan]]<ref name="ReferenceB"/><ref name=autogenerated1/> with a new suburb to be known as [[Lucas, Victoria|Lucas]] to be created.<ref>Henderson, Fiona [http://www.thecourier.com.au/news/local/news/general/ballarat-west-suburb-to-be-named-lucas/2071841.aspx Ballarat west suburb to be named Lucas] The Courier 10 February 2011.</ref> New activity centres have been developed at Delacombe and Alfredton.