The article explores the water-city relationship from the viewpoint of the most basic urban reality: one where the key objective is the physical construction of a space that is safe, served and equipped for people. In other words, making the street liveable, or, simply, building streets to make a city. To do so, it examines stages of urban work pending, the moments of transition in which many cities are immersed: the arduous process of transforming and improving their most basic urban conditions. Using a specific case, it presents a scenario that is both highly topical and frequently overlooked in an increasingly urbanized global picture. It is a real case in Limbé (Cameroon), though it could have been any other city.