Grounded Urban Practices (GUPs) are projects, initiatives or offices who use space as a key agent of change, an approach known as spatial activism, and share three main characteristics: a) being grounded, community-based and bottom-up; b) adopting a critical position vis-a-vis the status quo, market forces, government policies and conventional practice; and c) experimenting with alternative methods and tools, as well as legal, financial and organizational models.