Street photograph=people shots?

Here comes the question of the week: are people necessarily part of street photography?

Some have said that street shots should document the streets.  To me, the streets are nothing without people.  Those who think otherwise can take a peek at the Atget photographs of Paris and decide on their own. 

Here we can see some examples of people in the streets of Chicago; the first shows a group of people looking up... all of them, at the same time!  Why?  The Air and Water Show (and the Blue Angels hovering over town... quite noisily).  Then, a young couple having their picture taken in Millenium Park (some family history started right there and then).  The following one shows a man who plays chess with multiple mates not far from the Art Institute, and the second portrays two fellows in wait of customers for their tour of Chicago in an open bus.  Both are street scenes, both present the life in downtown, what those who live in the Loop see every time they step out of their apartments.  These are the images that won't be remembered easily.  Sometimes I wonder what would Chicago look like on the screen, just in case someone in the year 2080 wanted to film a movie set in the Loop in the early 21st century.

They'd need my photos, of course!