Wendell P. Dufour Jr.

Wendel Dufour has been a full time Research Associate with the College of Urban and Public Affairs and now the Center for Urban and Public Affairs since August of 1996.  During that time, Mr. Dufour has directed or participated in a wide range of comprehensive and land use planning projects for various public and private sector clients.  These projects included among others the Jefferson Parish Envision Jefferson 2020 Comprehensive Land Use and Transportation Plan, City of Kenner Pattern for Progress Land Use Plan and Zoning Study, and the St. John Parish Land Use Plan.  For all of these planning efforts, Mr. Dufour coordinated the citizen participation efforts, as well as developing the recommended future land use plan for both the Kenner and St. John Land Use Plans.  In addition, Mr. Dufour has also directed eight major Neighborhood Planning Projects in several New Orleans neighborhoods.

During Mr. Dufour’s tenure as the Director of the Division of Planning, CUPA undertook the first ever land use surveys using the new American Planning Association’s Land Based Classification Standards.  These land use surveys, completed for the Envision Jefferson 2020 and Kenner Pattern for Progress planning efforts, yielded over seven million individual pieces data which was entered into a geographic information system for analysis and mapping by over 20 Graduate Assistants working for the Division of Planning.

Mr. Dufour has spoken at several national planning conferences, including those of the American Planning Association, Urban Affairs Association, Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI), the National Congress for Community Economic Development, and the Southeastern Collegiate Schools of Planning.  Also, Mr. Dufour has won an award from the Louisiana Chapter of the American Planning Association for the Lower Ninth Ward Community Planning Project.
 
Prior to becoming a full time Research Associate, Mr. Dufour worked as a Graduate Assistant in CUPA while obtaining his Master’s Degree in Urban and Regional Planning.  In addition, Mr. Dufour was appointed as an Adjunct Faculty member and teaches courses in land use planning, neighborhood planning and geographic information systems.