Transparency, as one of the key elements of contemporary urban governance, is often presented in urban politics as a technical tool to enhance accountability and public trust; however, its relationship with forms of power is rarely systematically analyzed. This study aims to elucidate how formal and informal power structures influence the institutionalization and implementation of transparency mechanisms in urban governance systems. This study selected 36 articles for a qualitative meta-analysis through a systematic review process after conducting a screening procedure based on the PRISMA protocol. The findings indicate that transparency is not merely a technical tool for enhancing accountability but a contested field influenced by power structures. Formal power affects transparency through three main routes: resistance and concealment, control and monitoring, and the reproduction and consolidation of power elements. Informal power forms also appear in three roles: social pressure, mediation, and lobbying against transparency. Analyzing the consequences of these interactions leads to outcomes such as symbolic transparency, reality distortion, and the gap between theory and practice in urban governance systems. Therefore, transparency is not a neutral phenomenon but a field of struggle for various power forms. Dominance of resistance - based and control - oriented approaches of formal power and the duality of informal power leads to the emergence of " symbolic transparency," which reproduces power inequalities rather than fostering accountability. Therefore, any attempt to promote transparency should be based on the exact knowledge of the forms of power and based on cultural, institutional, and political contexts.