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Paper short abstract

Wearable UV sensing is used to examine everyday sunlight exposure in dense urban housing in Karachi, Pakistan. The study focuses on ambient UVB availability across indoor and outdoor spaces and explores how housing form and routine shape health-relevant environmental exposure.

Paper long abstract

This paper presents an ongoing study using a wearable ultraviolet (UV) sensing device to examine everyday sunlight exposure and its implications for health knowledge in dense urban environments. Although the biomedical importance of UVB exposure for Vitamin D synthesis is well established, access to clinical testing and preventive care remains uneven.

The research draws on doctoral fieldwork in Karachi, Pakistan, focusing on women living in middle-income neighbourhoods shaped by rapid densification, vertical growth, and privacy-oriented housing forms. These spatial and social conditions significantly influence daily exposure to sunlight yet are rarely captured in standard health or environmental assessments. A wearable UV sensing device was developed using Arduino and Python and housed in a 3D-printed, watch-style casing worn on the wrist. Currently, the device functions as a research instrument rather than a diagnostic or consumer tool, enabling the measurement of ambient UV exposure as experienced by the wearer over the course of the day.

Although the device records the full UV spectrum, the analytical focus is on UVB availability and its variation across indoor and outdoor domestic spaces. Because the wrist is often partially shielded from direct sunlight, recorded values are adjusted using a calibrated coefficient to approximate effective exposure. The device is currently in a testing phase, but early trials indicate stable and consistent readings for ambient UVA, UVB, and UVC. By combining wearable sensing with spatial observation, the study offers a grounded approach to understanding how health-relevant environmental data are produced and constrained by everyday housing and routine.