Published online by Cambridge University Press: 17 February 2020
Given a manifold $M$ with a submanifold
$N$, the deformation space
${\mathcal{D}}(M,N)$ is a manifold with a submersion to
$\mathbb{R}$ whose zero fiber is the normal bundle
$\unicode[STIX]{x1D708}(M,N)$, and all other fibers are equal to
$M$. This article uses deformation spaces to study the local behavior of various geometric structures associated with singular foliations, with
$N$ a submanifold transverse to the foliation. New examples include
$L_{\infty }$-algebroids, Courant algebroids, and Lie bialgebroids. In each case, we obtain a normal form theorem around
$N$, in terms of a model structure over
$\unicode[STIX]{x1D708}(M,N)$.