Austin, Texas, has long been a fast-growing city associated with high technology, live music, creative economic sectors, and an abundance of cultural capital. These traits, along with its location in the Sunbelt, usually explain its rapid and consistent growth. This essay argues that an artificial abundance of water, created by a series of dams and reservoirs built from 1938 to 1960, is an important factor in Austin’s development. Dams and water incentivized real estate development, provided power and recreational opportunities, and created an attractive image that leaders used to promote the city. Rapid growth caused by artificial abundance, however, also masked the city’s environmental risk and threatens to undermine its resilience as climate events like droughts become more frequent and intense. Thus, technocratic solutions to urban environmental problems often become problems themselves as their impacts on the landscape become naturalized over time.

德克萨斯州奥斯汀长期以来一直是一个与高科技、现场音乐、创意经济部门和丰富的文化资本相关的快速发展的城市。这些特征以及它在阳光带中的位置通常可以解释其快速而持续的增长。本文认为，由 1938 年至 1960 年建造的一系列水坝和水库创造的大量人工水是奥斯汀发展的一个重要因素。水坝和水刺激了房地产开发，提供了电力和娱乐机会，并创造了领导人用来宣传城市的有吸引力的形象。然而，由于干旱等气候事件变得更加频繁和激烈，人工丰度造成的快速增长也掩盖了该城市的环境风险，并有可能削弱其恢复力。因此，