So you're proposing colonizing Venus by living in cities suspended in the atmosphere by balloons?
> So you're proposing colonizing Venus by living in cities suspended in the atmosphere by balloons?
Bingo. Venus has an abundance of the raw materials for life... nitrogen and CO2 in the air, sulphuric acid for water and hydrogen in the clouds below, and obviously abundant solar energy. The high molecular weight of the atmosphere means that hydrogen blimps/dirigibles/balloons will have substantially greater lifting capability than on Earth, while being less explosive. The lower mass of Venus means getting from the 14 PSI region to orbit will be easier; propellants are avialble in the form of hydrogen and oxygen, as well as easily manufacturable hydrocarbons. "Cloud cities" made of plastic and carbon fiber could be replicationg operations, with one city makign another out of the natural resources available.
Metals and minerals would of course be an issue. But park a single small asteroid in orbit, and you're good to go. And metals and minerals, unlike air and water, do not evaporate, and can thus be reasonably effectively locked into a use cycle.
Colonizing Venus and colonizing Mars are not either/or operations. Do both.