John Norton, professor of the history and philosophy of science, University of Pittsburgh

This self-described Barely Able Seaman, wielding a sailing hat and wind gauge, sought to encourage sailboating Downtown and proposed various launch sites on the rivers. Why? It's a beautiful place to sail and ...

"There is nothing like sailboats. Take any place. Add sailboats. No one is sad, no one is angry, everyone is happy and everyone is on vacation."

What's more ... "Nothing conveys the image of a premier water recreation site better than a sailboat gently gliding past the cityscape."

For more Norton notions: www.pitt.edu/~jdnorton/sail/

USE OUR BRAINS

Lalit Chordia, president and founder of Thar Technologies Inc.

1) Merge the city and county governments to improve government efficiency and give the region more clout, especially in Harrisburg.

2) Pittsburgh grew in the past by assembling a critical mass of technology, people and money in key sectors, such as steel, glass, oil and banks. The region almost did it again a few years ago in networking, with Fore Systems and Marconi creating thousands of jobs and spinoff companies, but the tech bubble burst. Now, the focus should be on medical devices, green technology and a few other things. Trying to follow every idea out there doesn't work.

3) A radical idea: Lobby the federal government to approve 5,000 H1B visas each year for educated foreigners to come to the region. This would add 25,000 people in five years. Let's say their brainpower and creativity spins off an average of four jobs per person. That's 100,000 jobs. Voila! More people, more jobs, higher property values, more prosperity, everyone is happy.

WASH OUR BRAINS

Joey Rahimi helped start CollegeProwler.com, a guide to colleges, and the PR firm Branding Brand

Mr. Rahimi came from New York to Carnegie Mellon University and stayed in Pittsburgh to start businesses because he got brainwashed. Pittsburgh has top schools but few students stay because they think all the cool jobs are on the coasts. So they, too, need brainwashing.

Make Entrepreneurship 101 mandatory in all colleges, no matter the major. College grads have less to lose; there's never a better time to start something new. They don't have to worry about babies or mortgages and, if they fail, they can still get into top graduate schools or find good jobs. Colleges and businesses put more value on starting a business and failing than working for a corporation.

Pittsburgh has a low cost of living -- low rent, cheap office space, cheap beer, cheap food. Beer is important to young entrepreneurs. They love to work hard and party hard. Pittsburgh's fun! Pittsburgh's cheap! And don't forget the beer.

UP THE REVOLUTION

Heather Arnet, executive director of the Women and Girls Foundation

Improving the region's economy, environment, cultural diversity or anything else requires an institutional revolution. Whenever someone tries to make significant changes around here, they hit walls. This will change only when elections are fully financed by the public and office holders are limited to a certain number of terms. Such reform would give more young, female and minority candidates a chance of winning. Now, they can't afford to uproot well-financed incumbents, even those who are corrupt or indicted.

UP THE REVOLUTION II

Bill Peduto, Pittsburgh city councilman

To further truncate an already-brief history of Pittsburgh presented by the councilman, first there was the Big Bang, which eventually led to the political machine.

Machines have fallen in city after city, but not in Pittsburgh. In June, City Council passed limits on campaign contributions but the legislation was vetoed by Mayor Luke Ravenstahl. Pittsburgh needs such limits but it also needs to end no-bid contracts, to make purchasing transparent, to make sure that tax-increment-financing projects help local neighborhoods, to put good management above politics, to institute merit hiring and a strong ethics code. These reforms would produce sustainable development, efficient government, fair and clean elections, professional services.

We don't need another renaissance, we need a reformation.

UP THE MICROREVOLUTION

Nathan Martin, president and CEO of DeepLocal Inc., a media software company

Microrevolutions change societies from the bottom up, not the top down. Instead of the powers-that-be focusing on things such as big fireworks displays and promotional videos, they ought to encourage "small people doing small things" such as artists and entrepreneurs.

Start a buy-local campaign to encourage governments and big companies to buy professional services from local firms. Provide subsidies and training to make it happen. A lot of big Pittsburgh players don't think collaborators here can be good enough, that professionals from New York or San Francisco must be more talented than our own. Not true.

Other ideas from DeepLocal staff: Hold fewer meetings, try harder and fail more often, allow camping inside the city limits, ban marriage until the age of 30.

ERADICATE POVERTY

Bomani Howze, a program officer for the Heinz Endowments

There are 4 billion poor people in the world, 37 million in the United States, 60,000-plus in Pittsburgh. We need innovative financial instruments to shrink the number of poor and grow the middle class. Two ideas that have worked:

1) Invest pension funds locally and use them to encourage economic development in city neighborhoods. This was done in Los Angeles after the riots of 1992, in New York City after 9/11, in New Orleans after Katrina.

2) Try microfinancing, by which poor people are given small loans to build businesses or skills. This has been successful in developing countries. There are many models, including Kiva, which allows individual donors to lend to specific borrowers (www.kiva.org).

GEOGRAPHY RULES

Erik Lingren, executive director of Venture Outdoors, which encourages outdoor activities

People outside of Pittsburgh have a better image of the region than people who live here. The smoky days are long gone and now our natural advantage is evident, as recognized by Places Rated Almanac, USAToday and others. National Geographic Adventure named Pittsburgh the No. 1 outdoor city.

We have "quality of place." We have "things no one else can buy, build or create that is inherent in our geography." Why don't we leverage that by building the largest, greatest park in the world along our rivers and among our hills.

WATER, WATER EVERYWHERE

Lisa Schroeder, executive director of the Riverlife Task Force

Ms. Schroeder pushes a bold vision every day -- a seamless flow of parks and trails and green buildings and fishing holes along our rivers.

Pittsburgh is set in a magnificent watershed. Water has always been the lifeblood of the region. Fresh water around the world increasingly is precious, but 40 percent of the fresh water in the United States is too polluted for swimming or aquatic life. Water quality is deplorable, including here in Pittsburgh.

Pittsburgh should look to its history of redeveloping industrial brownfields by reclaiming its water heritage. All parks should help filter and clean water. All parking lots should provide natural channels for water. All public places should have fountains, geysers, wells. All neighborhoods should be linked to waterfront parks.

What makes this region distinct is the flow of water. We can demonstrate spectacularly the connection between clean water, healthy habitat and a future paradigm of urban living.

IT'S A WRAP

Jonathan Greene, architect and designer

Five things that could change the way we see the city:

1) Fix bad design. Start by wrapping Fifth Avenue Place in fabric a la Christo. It's off-putting, to say the least. Make it the iconic building it should be.

2) Employ radical mixed use. In the Strip, for instance, connect the business area to the riverfront with green space, soccer fields perhaps, by building a green roof over the vast wasteland of parking lots.

3) The Hill District is isolated, with spectacular views. Connect the Hill to the Strip with an incline. Imagine riding up the incline with coffee and biscotti.

4) Reinforce Pittsburgh's identity. Send a city flag to every resident. They could use it on Steeler days, whatever. Wherever the U.S. flag flies, fly the Pittsburgh flag. Forget the Pennsylvania flag; Pittsburgh should be a city-state.

5) Display more public art, such as Chinese lanterns under the bridges that separate the Strip District from Downtown. Hang big colorful ones, three stories high. Light them at night. Create a beautiful gateway from Downtown to the Strip.