In popular imagination of the sci-fi and speculative fiction variety, Mars is seen as the natural destiny of humanity. To explore, to settle, the possibly find aliens there (or at least, the vestiges of their dead civilizations). Venus has been overshadowed ever since the realization that the entire planet is a ball of sulphuric acid and the surface much more difficult to walk upon. But Venus used to be
well-known in myth and pop culture, what with being the twin of Earth, the Morning Star, covered in jungles, etc. etc. Apparently Edgar Rice Burroughs has a
Carson of Venus series! Some cool stuff
here.
I think I first encountered the idea of exploration of Venus in Beer's
Revolution, Maple Leafs, Chrysanthemes and the Eagle -A revised 1848 TL. Since then, I've found that there's been proposals to
send an expedition and even
colonize Venus before Mars. For one thing, Venus is closer to Earth than Mars is, and its gravity is the same, thus preventing the negative effects on the human body of living in a < 1G environment. Charles Stross makes a pretty interesting case
here. Here's a summary
article.
As far as the AH goes, what would it take to have Venus replace Mars in the popular conception as where humanity should voyage to first, settle on, have colonial tensions with, etc.? What would it take for a billionaire to want to build sky cities there?