People of different fields came together for the same dream of building a smart city.

The prospect of a gleaming, green, high-tech experimental city was personally motivating to participants from diverse industry backgrounds, ranging from software to real estate development to city government. Their enthusiasm for the project’s unique combination of technical innovation and bold demonstration of new possibilities brought people together and gave them, for all their differences, a shared identity.

Two men were killed in a shooting at the University of California, Los Angeles on Wednesday, prompting thousands of frightened students and staff members to hunker down or run for shelter as the police went door to door searching for the gunman or other victims.