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.

Yo-Yo Ma was by age 30 widely regarded as one of the world’s finest classical cellists, both onstage and in the studio. Then he branched out — to bluegrass, tango, jazz, and other genres and also projects with filmmakers, artists, and designers. A documentary on the Silk Road Ensemble, a group he formed in 2000 to showcase composers and performers from around the world, will be released this month.