Will Orbiting Space Colonies Replace Planets?

Expanding into space has been a dream of scifi since before the genre had a name. Adventure, overcrowding, the chance of green-skinned women - the reasons are manifold but the idea is always the same, because the need to advance and prosper in new locations is fundamental to our species. The fact it's usually because we ruined the last place (or we don't like the people who live there) is best ignored.
There are many largely unaddressed questions, both moral and practical that have not...