Back in June, Anna Luten became Amsterdam’s—and the world’s—first bike mayor. As an adviser working part-time, rather than a politician, Luten’s role is to be a linchpin that links up cyclists with both the city and the non-cycling public, in order to get better infrastructure, safety and understanding between those who do and don’t travel on two wheels.

Cycle Space, the NGO that launched the bike mayor project, plans to export the concept to 25 cities around the world—a plan that Luten herself will kickstart in New York in 2017.

CityLab spoke with Luten about how the project is going in its first year, and what’s coming in the future. This conversation has been edited and condensed.

Despite the grand title, the bike mayor is really an advisory role that doesn’t come with direct power. How have you been able to influence decision-making?

I’ve been talking to lots of organizations, including Amsterdam City Hall. They are currently writing a city bicycle plan to cover the next few years, looking at what the challenges could be and where funding needs to go. I was consulted on that and advised them to think more about tourists. Amsterdam was so busy with visitors this year that the tourism industry arose as a major public debate, and local Amsterdammers are always complaining about tourists standing in the middle of bike paths when they’re trying to get to work. I advised that we need to look at how visitors use bikes and how we can improve their bike path and riding skills—and I believe this became part of the plan.