In 1994 a new democratic government was ushered in South Africa with the release of political prisoners including Nelson Mandela. The government introduced a strategy of a Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP). This was a deliberate move of building houses for the previously disadvantaged communities, which were more of a black community of African origin. There are challenges the housing programme is faced with, amongst the challenges is quality of houses, access to basic services of water, sanitation, energy and waste management. The challenges related to climate change and environmental protection by means of reduced material input and lower carbon footprints, as part of the green agenda. Progress in the development of sustainable human settlements especially in regions suffering from inadequate and decaying infrastructure can be achieved best through the integrated application of green technologies based on local and solar resources, appropriate town planning and design of dwellings, oriented towards the benefit of the people, social activities, business development and income generation. The importance of technological innovations in human settlements echoed in the Human Settlements Summit 2017 was the need to upscale innovation and transformative technologies in order to build smart communities for connectivity, resilience, economy, and dignity. Moreover, rapid urbanisation and technology gaps in human settlements could also be managed through innovations in technology. One channel to achieve this is through the formation of strong partnerships between private sector and government, and/or international partnerships on integrated application of green technologies. While South Africa has embraced green economy principles and committed to reducing infrastructural and industrial development actions that are environmentally destructive, still to be seen are tested integrated approaches on coming up with green alternative technology development. Postured to proffer a Green Village Model the study followed qualitative design in which data was collected through document reviews and interviews while examination of technologies was followed applying Cost Benefit Analysis, Capital Cost Analysis and Social Acceptance Modelling. The study proposes a model with relevant variables that need to be considered in terms of designing and implementing a green building project.

Keywords : Greening, settlements, technologies, innovations, carbon, buildings, model, sustainable