The purpose of this paper is to propose a conceptual framework by which educators can recognize, affirm, and enhance the potential to learning of a vast array of urban resources unconnected to schools. Working definitions of the major terms "educators,""resources," and "urban" are provided as a reference base for the conceptual framework. Elements of the various constituents of the learning encounter are itemized in order to assist professionals in analyzing the interaction between learner and situation. Features of the participants, the context and the learning process are included. A review of selected literature which touches on the issue of learning from urban resources is also provided. Writings that describe three different kinds of resources (museums, settlement houses, and the city as a built environment) are identified. It is suggested that educators could apply the urban resource framework to these works, in order to use the literature more creatively and systematically in their thinking about urban education. The challenge for educators, it is held, is to understand how people can learn from the city's non-school resources, and to create ways of enhancing that process. (Author/EB)