CAROLYN GUIRGUIS, Ballarat Arts Foundation, small business owner, proud Ballarat resident: I suppose it's important to look at the drivers for why people are relocating to Ballarat. If the main reason they're moving here is because they're priced out of the Melbourne market, that's a worry. Hopefully they're moving here strategically, because we've got job opportunities, schools, health care. If people are coming and wanting to contribute to the community, it's fantastic.

ELIZABETH LEWIS-GRAY, Gekko Systems chair, philanthropist, innovator: It's a good thing, overall. I mean, it's a bad thing for that part of the community that can't afford housing, who are trying to get in, but it's good in the sense that the regions are being valued. I think it's really critical we set a really clear vision for the city; that Ballarat is a smart and healthy city. A healthy city is one with a strong culture: inclusive, diverse, open, tolerant, dynamic. We should be a world class city.

CAROLYN GUIRGUIS: I can throw a controversial one in there - I'm pretty happy with the scooters. I think they're fabulous. More seriously, it's extraordinary how often the Ballarat International Foto Biennale comes up in discussion with people. In the last few months I've been to different functions down in Melbourne or Geelong and people say ,'Oh, we're planning in two weeks' time to come to Ballarat specifically for that event'. I think the role the BIFB plays in encouraging new people to come to the city who otherwise might not is tremendous. I think the GovHub is a spectacular building; having the courage to get a great architect to design a really extraordinary building for Ballarat.

ELIZABETH LEWIS-GRAY: We're incredibly lucky in Ballarat, we've got a very strong medical and educational infrastructure to build on. If you have a focus on health, both mental and physical health, I think it brings along with it a lot of the other benefits for the community, around restaurants, around food, being culturally diverse... you know, we need diversity. We need the arts.

I would like to see Ballarat have the vision of being a smart city, as well as a healthy city. We've also got incredible infrastructure with the university and the IBM centre here, and the opportunity we've got in that whole SMB area at the end of the city, to turn that into an innovation precinct. For me the big program is the whole renewable energy space as well.

CAROLYN GUIRGUIS: I think Ballarat has a real challenge with the amount of growth that is happening. It seems to be unreal, unrelenting. The growth that's out west: you could be in Caroline Springs, you could be in one of the Craigieburn housing developments, you could be anywhere. It's that model that just rolls on and on. It seems to me there's not as much thought as there probably should be in terms of legacy planning and what we're doing to build. I remember years ago, when I was going on about the Civic Hall, and there was the idea of creating heritage as well as preserving heritage. And I think that's a real challenge.

ELIZABETH LEWIS-GRAY: I suppose my one concern, which I'm sure is everybody's concern, is that fast growth brings low quality development: lack of infrastructure, lack of encouragement for people to cycle and exercise; not enough green spaces for sporting groups and community groups, But we've got to talk up the possibilities, rather than the negatives all the time. If you look at a city like Copenhagen, a city that's achieved a lot, they really do have a focus on health, and they have a focus on getting people exercising, being in the community. Certainly I think people are happier when they're giving to the community rather than taking, so we should really be encouraging people to volunteer, and celebrating volunteer groups.

CAROLYN GUIRGUIS: I like the idea of the Nightingale building, and the one that's about to commence in Lyons Street, medium, not high rise, towers, but they're going higher than they've been before. And to me, that's something that should really be embraced. I know people feel quite terrified of the skyline of the city changing, but I think that the CBD is so critical to Ballarat. It's what makes us a unique and special place; but I think it's completely undervalued.

Like the Mechanics' Institute: I went down to the Gudinski exhibition, and suddenly you've got this basement! I understand it comes with its own complications, but I think there's so much potential and when you're in some cities where you've got limited space, I think people are really clever with how they use their spaces. Whereas in Ballarat, we haven't quite got that as a priority. How many more of these places exist in Ballarat, completely untapped? If they were unlocked, it would create enormous potential.

I suppose the other two things I'd like to see are more green spaces, and the development of Ballarat as a true hub for western Victoria. Looking at the Civic Hall precinct a few years ago, I was really keen on that space becoming a green, parklands space. I still think it's a great shame that didn't happen, the idea of a park organically existing within a city.

I was in a discussion the other day about Ballarat West Employment Zone, the idea of Ballarat as a true road rail and air centre. If we could do something amazing there, bringing some really high level skills into into Ballarat. If we're attracting people who have a multifaceted approach to what their business is and what their passion is, I think it creates some really interesting opportunities.

ELIZABETH LEWIS-GRAY: We need open air, fast connectivity in the city, available to everyone. For the rural areas, access to connectivity through satellite or whatever is almost the bare minimum infrastructure.

So we've got the medical infrastructure, we've got the opportunity to use the university and the IBM connection harder. We've got the educational infrastructure. They're all really good. But we have built a smart city, and we have those skills in Ballarat.

So let's have a plan to leverage that, set a vision for us to be a global city.

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