Spectacularization and the land rush in the Colombian Altillanura

In the contemporary land rush, countries on the ‘most land-grabbed’ list have experienced numerous so-called ‘failed land deals’. Spectacularization played a key role in these outcomes, depicting land in dramatically new ways to attract investors. But such a spectacle alone is insufficient. Logically, not all projected investments will turn operational. At times, this is used to argue that the land rush was not as widespread as assumed and that many land deals are little more than ‘hype’ or empty claims. This paper examines the Colombian case to expand on this narrative. I found that the Colombian Altillanura became a key hotspot in the global land rush and that understanding its full scale requires attention to the role of spectacle, as well as the interconnection between failed and operational land deals.