The latest plans to transform Market Square involve an international food gallery, fountains, an entertainment center featuring a possible Dave and Buster's arcade, walkways symbolizing the city's three rivers, retail shops, reuse of vacant buildings and lots of entertainment, from comedians to classical music, maybe even a bingo night.

But the newest proposals aren't coming from some trendy New York City developer or some high-priced consultant hired by the city, but 32 middle school students from the region who spent a week roaming Downtown and thinking outside the box.

Given what they've come up with, Mayor Bob O'Connor might want to forget about that international design competition for Market Square and embrace the homegrown talent.

The seventh graders were selected by their school districts to take part in the Downtown Vibrancy Project, part of Point Park University's Summer in the City program. During the week, the pupils toured Market Square and met with Mr. O'Connor, Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan Onorato and other public officials with a stake in the Fifth and Forbes corridor.

Yesterday, they unveiled their proposals to make the once bustling commerce center relevant for Generation X and beyond.

Divided into five groups with names like "X-ing Peds," the "Three Riverhounds", and "Free Parking" (There's an idea to run with), they tackled a host of issues relating to the square, including entertainment, improving transportation and appearance and parking.

Mr. O'Connor, who met with the middle schoolers Thursday, said he was impressed with their commitment to the project.

"I was pleasantly surprised that on a beautiful summer day so many people would spend so much time and effort in the city," he said. "It just shows ... they're serious, they love our city and they have something to offer. It's good to listen to your customers."

Unencumbered by politics or money, the students came up with idea after idea that would make any developer proud. Among them:

An entertainment center featuring a movie theater, a possible game arcade like Dave & Buster's, a play area for children or a bowling alley.

An international food gallery using the small buildings ringing the square as "ethnic stalls" with cuisine from different countries, plus a nationality fair every three months.

A proposal to redo the walkways in the square to mimic the city's three rivers. That would be coupled with more ethnic restaurants; book, toy, sports, electronic, souvenir and clothing stores; a tourist information stand; and meeting and work places for poets, artists, and writers.

Demolish the old G.C. Murphy's store (sorry preservationists) and turn it into a recreational area or playground and fill vacant buildings with popular stores.

Add grocery, dollar, clothing and other stores to the square as well as a park or jungle gym, more police and a homeless shelter.

Use second and third floors of Market Square buildings and vacant structures for housing and offices.

Like many private developers, the students groups wanted to eliminate or severely restrict traffic and parking in the square, creating more of a visitor and pedestrian friendly environment for patrons. There also were proposals to flatten the square and to remove streets in favor of more green space.

They also came up with dozens of suggestions for sprucing up the square, calling for gardens, fountains, statues, more grass, trees, shrubs, lights, tables, chairs trash cans, and awnings. Furthermore, buildings could use some fresh paint, and the square's marble should be cleaned or removed.

One group also sampled some of the square's plastic seating (the verdict: replace it with something sturdier).

Entertainment ideas included weekday concerts, classical music concerts, a dance area, light night parties, street entertainers, magicians, clowns, light shows, Easter egg hunts, plays or musicals, children's plays, even bingo night.

Patty Burk, a representative for the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership who attended the presentations, said some ideas like the Easter egg hunt and the children's show as well as aesthetic changes like more flowers and cleaning the square's marble could become reality.

"Those are easy things to do right now," she said.

Likewise, Betsy Sapienza, the Chartiers Valley Middle School principal who served a team leader for one of the groups, said the students' ideas should be valued by policy makers.

"They kind of cut through all of the politics and whatever to just see ways we can make it better. In their innocence, they did come up with some great ideas," she said.

Carson Sestili, 12, a student at West Mifflin Middle School, described his week as "cool." He said the city needs to do more to use second and third floor space in the square's buildings.

"It's a cool place to hang out. It's good that there's green space in the city but there needs to be more stuff to do there," he said.

Kufere Laing, 13, who attends Frick International Studies Academy, said he learned a lot in his week Downtown, including just how hard it is to turn ideas into realistic and acceptable plans.

The youngster wants to see more entertainment in Market Square, perhaps a park to throw a football or have a picnic. That would be a lot better than what he found.

"It's not fun at all," he said.