Resources in their various forms are at the basis of our urban economies. The extraction, alongside with the distribution, processing and disposal, of resources, being them natural, energy, or human, is a main driver for planetary urbanization. However, under a market-led economic regime, which is characterized by boom and bust cycles, the space produced by the resource-extraction economic model is from time to time discarded with huge environmental and social losses world wide. While recent concerns about climate change and urban resilience have emphasized resource efficiency i.e. consume less and use better each unit of resource, we think that this target alone isn't sufficient to truly transform society towards a more resilient horizon. We need to rethink the resource-urbanization nexus (RUN) and the way it affects our lifestyle and cities. In this article, we suggest resources in its various forms (natural and human) be intimately integrated with humanity and its built environment. To articulate such a vision, we discuss our two latest research projects that deal respectively with energy districts and resource regions in northern Sweden. Methodologically, we deploy assemblage thinking, global production network of resources, and critical urban theory and political ecology as the main pillars of our framework.