An encampment — sometimes referred to as an “occupation” or “temporary autonomous zone” — is a tactic where organizers reclaim and take over a public or privatized space. In an encampment, protesters inhabit physical space to achieve change and construct pre-figurative counter-spaces to express different ways of relating to a place and being in community.

Encampments vary in form but are often defined by an extended temporality, and require a focus on the logistics of maintaining the encampment (preparing food, creating safety plans, building and cleaning shelters). The Occupy Wall Street movement is a recent example of this tactic.

One logic behind the tactic is that people reclaim space they believe they are entitled to, highlighting the greater theft. When there is a history of colonization or annexation, an encampment can be a means by which indigenous people assert their historical rights to that land.