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Heatwaves can be particularly difficult for people who live in cities, where temperatures are often noticeably highly than in surrounding suburban areas.
And as average temperatures continue to rise, the question is now can designers and planners provide more shade and help lower temperatures in crowded urban areas.
One option to cool cities could be to use floating forests or floating gardens, as they are sometimes known, where trees and other greenery are planted on buoyant rafts.
Arup's head of aquatic ecology, Mike Hill said floating forests are a useful way to create new living habitats in city waterways, in an email.
Hill added when designed and maintained well, their dense root systems hang below the surface to shelter fish, give invertebrates a place to thrive, and, in turn, feed other species including birds.
"As well as boosting biodiversity and water quality, they bring colour and nature back to otherwise stark places, improving how people experience the waterfront in their cities," he told me.
One example of a floating forest scheme is the Eden Dock project in Canary Wharf, London, where more than 750 square metres of islands have been introduced into a previously inaccessible dock to help transform it into a biodiverse public realm.
James Lord, partner and landscape lead at architecture practice HTA Design, who worked on the project alongside Howells, said the floating islands were planted in lightweight expanded clay pebbles, which allows the roots to grow directly into the water.
Lord added this means the trees and plants grow hydroponically and it also creates a quasi-wetland like habitat, which is very rare on the River Thames corridor.
He told me there is also a lot of wind and sun reflection caused by the tall buildings in Canary Wharf, which meant they had to be careful about the type of trees they used and how they were anchored on the islands themselves.
"The dock itself is fresh water from an aquifer, sealed off from the Thames which made it easier to select a range of plants that would tolerate this environment while extracting nutrient load and locking in carbon in the form of biomass" said Lord.
"And then needed to find a balance with the planting species we used between attracting wildfowl and making really great sheltering habitats.
A submerged shelf with marginal species has also been added to the dock, which enhances biodiversity and also acts as a discreet safety barrier.
"A lot of what was done in order to achieve success on this project is very replicable if you choose the right plant species and get sufficient buoyancy. You could roll it out all over Canary Wharf, and any other place that has similar scaled water bodies."
Canary Wharf Group's director of ESG, Sophie Goddard, said the scheme has helped deliver a 55% biodiversity net gain for the area, and reduced the urban heat island effect by 10%.
Goddard said it has also helped connect the people who live and work in Canary Wharf with the space in a way that they had not done previously.
"Our footfall at the weekends has doubled since Covid," she told me.
"We're creating these opportunities to bring people in and create a buzz about the place, which is really important from the business rationale and why urban spaces need to provide broader ecosystem services incorporating floating forests."
And the Swedish architecture firm White Arkitekter has proposed transforming Gothenburg's waterfront into a 'floating garden', with floating islands blending recreation, biodiversity and climate resilience.
The vision for the waterfront is inspired by global examples and aligned with Sweden's ambitious environmental goals, whereby all Swedish municipalities are required to prioritise ecosystem services and urban greenery.
Landscape architect Louise Didriksson said the plans highlight how more nature can be brought into Gothenburg and soften the industrial edges of the city, in an interview.
The Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency has identified Gothenburg as a high-risk area for flooding.
Didriksson added the floating gardens could also bolster flood resilience and contribute to shoreline protection, if designed properly, and artificial reefs can also help tackle water contamination.
Architect Jacob Sahlqvist said a floating garden would be a social destination as well as a sustainable way of creating better places for residents and visitors.
Sahlqvist added the response so far from residents and decision-makers to the idea of introducing a floating garden has been very positive.