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The Padang Civic Ensemble – comprising the historical green, open space and its surrounding civic buildings – has been placed on Singapore’s tentative list of Unesco World Heritage Sites, paving the way for it to be nominated as the country’s second World Heritage Site after the Singapore Botanic Gardens.

The National Heritage Board (NHB) on Thursday said the ensemble is most likely to fulfil one of 10 criteria for World Heritage Sites, as an “outstanding example of a type of building, architectural or technological ensemble or landscape” that illustrates a significant stage, or stages, in human history.

The Padang Civic Ensemble is “an outstanding example of a British colonial civic square in the tropics”, said NHB.

Heritage conservation expert Johannes Widodo from the National University of Singapore’s Department of Architecture explains Unesco’s criteria for such sites. He also shares how the ensemble could fulfil those requirements.