The StartUp Tribe & World Class Cities

As Founder & CEO of the Global Mayors Academy (GMA) & Living Cities Earth (LCE), I work at the intersection of regenerative city transformation, leadership development, & whole-system change.

My work is centred on a question that feels increasingly urgent: How do we develop leaders capable of meeting this moment in human history—wisely, courageously, & in service of LIFE?

We are living through a time of profound transition, where ecological, social, political, & human systems show clear signs of strain. For over 2 decades, this inquiry has been at the heart of my work.

LCE was created as an action-research ecosystem exploring how cities can evolve into regenerative environments where life thrives. By convening 130+ co-founders—including systems thinkers, city builders, policymakers, innovators, educators, architects, environmental practitioners, & transformational leaders—we are cultivating a living knowledge ecosystem capable of responding to our times.

The Global Mayors Academy emerged from this work.

It was born from a profound recognition: if we are to transform the systems shaping our collective future, we must invest in those entrusted with leading our cities.

Powered by LCE’s collective intelligence and developmental expertise, GMA supports mayors & civic leaders to develop strategic, systemic, inner, & relational capacities required to lead in complexity.

I believe the outer systems we create can only evolve as far as the consciousness, courage, & coherence of those leading them.

My work is also deeply shaped by lived experience.

Growing up in apartheid-era South Africa shaped my understanding of exclusion, resilience, & the urgency of redesigning systems that fail people. Motherhood deepened my responsibility to future generations. Entrepreneurship taught courage & adaptability. Writing, speaking, & coaching deepened my understanding of narrative, human transformation & leadership. Living across cultures—including becoming British—expanded my perspective on identity, belonging, migration, & integration.

I often describe my work as entangled development—the understanding that personal transformation, systems redesign, social evolution, & ecological regeneration are inseparable.

My mission is to help cultivate conditions in which people, communities, cities, & the wider web of life can flourish together.

I’m always open to conversations around regenerative leadership, civic innovation, participatory governance, systems transformation, & of being ancestors building futures worthy of generations to come.

www.linkedin.com/in/ferial-puren